Young men with low birthweight exhibit decreased plasticity of genome-wide muscle DNA methylation by high-fat overfeeding

Aims/hypothesis The association between low birthweight (LBW) and risk of developing type 2 diabetes may involve epigenetic mechanisms, with skeletal muscle being a prime target tissue. Differential DNA methylation patterns have been observed in single genes in muscle tissue from type 2 diabetic and LBW individuals, and we recently showed multiple DNA methylation changes during short-term high-fat overfeeding in muscle of healthy people. In a randomised crossover study, we analysed genome-wide DNA promoter methylation in skeletal muscle of 17 young LBW men and 23 matched normal birthweight (NBW) men after a control and a 5 day high-fat overfeeding diet. Methods DNA methylation was measured using Illumina's Infinium BeadArray covering 27,578 CpG sites representing 14,475 different genes. Results After correction for multiple comparisons, DNA methylation levels were found to be similar in the LBW and NBW groups during the control diet. Whereas widespread DNA methylation changes were observed in the NBW group in response to high-fat overfeeding, only a few methylation changes were seen in the LBW group (chi(2), p < 0.001). Conclusions/interpretation Our results indicate lower DNA methylation plasticity in skeletal muscle from LBW vs NBW men, potentially contributing to understanding the link between LBW and increased risk of type 2 diabetes.