The anxiety and ethanol intake controlling GAL5.1 enhancer is epigenetically modulated by, and controls preference for, high fat diet

Excess maternal fat intake and obesity increase offspring susceptibility to conditions such as chronic anxiety and substance abuse. We hypothesised that these susceptibilities are established through environmentally modulated DNA-methylation (5mC/5hmC) changes in regions of the genome that modulate mood and consumptive behaviours. We explored the effects of environmental factors on 5mC/5hmC levels within the GAL5.1 enhancer that controls anxiety-related behaviours and alcohol intake. We first observed that 5mC/5hmC levels within the GAL5.1 enhancer differed significantly in different parts of the brain. Moreover, we noted that early life stress had no significant effect of 5mC/5hmC levels within GAL5.1. By contrast, we identified that allowing access of pregnant mothers to high-fat diet (>60% calories from fat) had a significant effect on 5mC/5hmC levels within GAL5.1 in hypothalamus and amygdala of resulting male offspring. Cell transfection based studies using GAL5.1 reporter plasmids showed that 5mC has a significant repressive effect on GAL5.1 activity and its response to known stimuli such as EGR1 expression and PKC agonism. Intriguingly, CRISPR driven disruption of GAL5.1 from the mouse genome, although having negligible effects on metabolism, significantly decreased intake of high fat diet suggesting that GAL5.1, in addition to being epigenetically modulated by high-fat diet, also actively contributes to the consumption of high-fat diet suggesting its involvement in an environmentally-influenced regulatory-loop. Furthermore, considering that GAL5.1 also controls alcohol preference and anxiety these studies may provide a first glimpse into an epigenetically controlled mechanism that links maternal high-fat diet with transgenerational susceptibility to alcohol abuse and anxiety.