How maternal diet influences offspring metabolism is unclear, as it is difficult to distinguish between the effects of the in utero environment and epigenetic factors contributed by the oocyte. In a mouse model of high-fat diet, a new study teases apart these mechanisms by using in vitro fertilization and shows that susceptibility of offspring to metabolic disorder can likely be attributed to epigenetic inheritance via the oocyte.
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Watson, E., Rakoczy, J. Fat eggs shape offspring health. Nat Genet 48, 478–479 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.3554
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.3554
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