Animal studies have linked perinatal bisphenol A (BPA) exposure to altered DNA methylation, but little attention is given to analyzing multiple physiologically relevant doses. Utilizing the viable yellow agouti (A(vy)) mouse, we examine the effects of developmental exposure through maternal diet to 50 ng BPA/kg (n = 14 litters), 50 μg BPA/kg (n = 9 litters), or 50 mg BPA/kg (n = 13 litters) on ...

The methylation of intracisternal A-type particle (IAP) sequences is maintained during mouse embryogenesis. Methylation suppresses IAP expression and the potential for mutagenesis by retrotransposition, but it is not clear how methylation of these elements is maintained during the embryonic stages when the bulk of the genome is being demethylated. It has been suggested that the high levels of D...

The neotropical canopy tree Hymenaea courbaril L. (Caesalpiniaceae) has long been hypothesized to depend on mammals for the dispersal of its seeds. Hallwachs (1986) suggested that agouti (Dasyprocta spp., Rodentia) inherited the role of disperser of H. courbaril seeds from large Pleistocene mammals (Janzen & Martin 1982). She further postulated that agouti are currently the only effective dispe...

Dmbx1 is a paired-class homeodomain transcription factor. We show here that mice deficient in Dmbx1 exhibit severe leanness associated with hypophagia and hyperactivity and that isolation of a Dmbx1(-/-) mouse from its cohabitants induces self-starvation, sometimes leading to death, features similar to those of anorexia nervosa in humans. Interestingly, overexpression of agouti in Dmbx1(-/-) mi...

Leptin, a hormone secreted by adipose tissue, acts to inhibit appetite and promote metabolism, thereby reducing body weight. Leptin also increases sympathetic activity and arterial pressure. Several murine models of obesity, including agouti obese mice, exhibit resistance to the anorexic and weight-reducing effects of leptin. Hypertension in agouti mice has been attributed to hyperleptinemia. T...

Genistein, the major phytoestrogen in soy, is linked to diminished female reproductive performance and to cancer chemoprevention and decreased adipose deposition. Dietary genistein may also play a role in the decreased incidence of cancer in Asians compared with Westerners, as well as increased cancer incidence in Asians immigrating to the United States. Here, we report that maternal dietary ge...

Chronic transplant dysfunction (CTD) is the leading cause of long-term renal allograft loss and is characterized by specific histological lesions including transplant vasculopathy, interstitial fibrosis, and focal glomerulosclerosis. Increasing evidence indicates that aldosterone is a direct mediator of renal damage via the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR). The MR antagonist spironolactone is re...

Agouti (ASIP) and Agouti-related protein (AgRP) are endogenous antagonists of melanocortin receptors that play critical roles in the regulation of pigmentation and energy balance, respectively, and which arose from a common ancestral gene early in vertebrate evolution. The N-terminal domain of ASIP facilitates antagonism by binding to an accessory receptor, but here we show that the N-terminal ...