The Epigenetic Regulation of Puberty
Description: The mechanism of pubertal onset has perplexed the understanding of human development and is considered to be among the great remaining scientific questions. We hypothesize that epigenetic factors, which are involved in changing DNA structure, have an important influence on the timing of the onset of puberty. We show evidence of a role for lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1/KDM1), an epigenetic enzyme that can regulate gene activation and repression. Preliminary data demonstrate changes in LSD1 expression in the hypothalamus, an area important for pubertal development and reproductive function. In addition, pubertal onset occurs at younger ages and normal reproductive function is disrupted in mice with reduced levels of LSD1. The overall goal of this project is to determine the precise role of LSD1 in the onset of puberty and the contribution of epigenetic regulation by LSD1 to reproduction. We propose to identify changes in LSD1 within hypothalamic areas critical for puberty and to functionally test the contributions of LSD1 to the neuroendocrine events that mark the initiation of pubertal development in vivo.
Funding type: research
Funder scheme: R21
Start date: 2010-09-15
End date: 2013-08-31
Investigator: URSULA B. KAISER
Institution: BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL
Subfield: Reproductive Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Funded outputs count: 6
Funder award ID: R21HD066495
OpenAlex ID: G6185522746