The Influence of Early Life Nutrition on Epigenetic Regulatory Mechanisms of the Immune System

The immune system is exquisitely sensitive to environmental changes. Diet constitutes one of the major environmental factors that exerts a profound effect on immune system development and function. Epigenetics is the study of mitotically heritable, yet potentially reversible, molecular modifications to DNA and chromatin without alteration to the underlying DNA sequence. Nutriepigenomics is an emerging discipline examining the role of dietary influences on gene expression. There is increasing evidence that the epigenetic mechanisms that regulate gene expression during immune differentiation are directly affected by dietary factors or indirectly through modifications in gut microbiota induced by different dietary habits. Short-chain fatty acids, in particular butyrate, produced by selected bacteria stains within gut microbiota, are crucial players in this network.