Common herbicide leaves metabolic damage across generations, study shows
A pesticide widely used in agriculture causes changes to gene regulation in offspring—even when the initial exposure is minimal—that link directly to diabetes and pancreatic disease risk. The finding suggests regulators may need to rethink how they assess long-term health risks from chemicals that alter DNA methylation patterns without changing the genetic code itself.
Originaltitel: Pesticide-induced transgenerational alterations of genome-wide DNA methylation patterns in the pancreas of <em>Xenopus tropicalis</em> correlate with metabolic phenotypes
<p>The unsustainable use of manmade chemicals poses significant threats to biodiversity and human health. Emerging evidence highlights the potential of certain chemicals to cause transgenerational impacts on metabolic health. Here, we investigate male transmitted epigenetic transgenerational effects of the anti-androgenic herbicide linuron in the pancreas of <em>Xenopus tropicalis</em> frogs, and their association with metabolic phenotypes. Reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS) was used to assess genome-wide DNA methylation patterns in the pancreas of adult male F2 generation ancestrally exposed to environmentally relevant linuron levels (44 ± 4.7 μg/L). We identified 1117 differentially methylated regions (DMRs) distributed across the <em>X. tropicalis</em> genome, revealing potential regulatory mechanisms underlying metabolic disturbances. DMRs were identified in genes crucial for pancreatic function, including calcium signalling (<em>clstn2, cacna1d</em> and <em>cadps2</em>), genes associated with type 2 diabetes (<em>tcf7l2</em> and <em>adcy5</em>) and a biomarker for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (<em>plec</em>). Correlation analysis revealed associations between DNA methylation levels in these genes and metabolic phenotypes, indicating epigenetic regulation of glucose metabolism. Moreover, differential methylation in genes related to histone modifications suggests alterations in the epigenetic machinery. These findings underscore the long-term consequences of environmental contamination on pancreatic function and raise concerns about the health risks associated with transgenerational effects of pesticides.</p>