Research groups join forces to study epigenetics in humans, animals

Four leading medical research, agricultural and academic organisations have formed the Epi Gen Consortium.

AgResearch, Auckland University's Liggins Institute, Southampton University and the UK Medical Research Council will work together to shed light on the emerging areas of epigenetic and epigenomic research.

Epigenetics is the biology of understanding how the function of genes is regulated by environmental factors, such as maternal nutrition during the very early stages of development, and how this affects the biological destiny of the fetus.

The phenomenon is seen as important to animal agriculture as it is to human health.

For example, epigenetic events in early development can result in smaller lambs, altered lamb survival, increased carcass fatness, altered milk production and in humans an increased predisposition to obesity, cardiovascular disease and the major degenerative diseases of ageing.

The epigenetic announcement follows the recent release of the results of research on cow weight gain before conception.

The Hamilton-based dairy research organisation Dexcel said a study of 1200 animals showed that cows gaining weight before conception had a much better chance of having a bull calf. The reverse was true for heifers.

Also, the fatter a cow was at calving the more likely it was to have a female calf next time.