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EDC exposure in 3D genome memory in transgenerational obesity

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A new study reveals that exposure of pregnant mice to an endocrine disrupting chemical, bisphenol A, induces multi-transgenerational (up to six) inheritance of obesity in their descendants. This effect depends on CTCF-dependent chromatin reorganization in the sperm, a synergistic outcome of altered DNA methylation, RNA modification and long-range chromatin interactions.

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Fig. 1: EDC-induced long-range control of gene expression based on ectopic CTCF binding.

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Acknowledgements

Research in the Q.C. laboratory is in part supported by NIH (R01HD092431 and R01ES032024).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Urology, Department of Surgery and Molecular Medicine Program, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Xudong Zhang & Qi Chen

  2. Center for RNA Biology and Medicine, Division of Biomedical Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA

    Qi Chen

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  1. Xudong Zhang
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  2. Qi Chen
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Correspondence to Qi Chen.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Zhang, X., Chen, Q. EDC exposure in 3D genome memory in transgenerational obesity. Nat Rev Endocrinol 19, 192–193 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-023-00810-x

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