Dr Neil Youngson

Fields of research: Epigenetics (incl. Genome Methylation and Epigenomics), Animal Developmental and Reproductive Biology, Inherited diseases (incl. gene therapy), Metabolic Medicine

Contact Details

Phone: +61 2 9385 3209
Email: n.youngson@unsw.edu.au

Supervision

PHD
Masters
Honours

Tabs

Main

Dr Youngson’s main scientific interest has been in non-Mendelian mechanisms of phenotype transmission in mammals and the evolutionary and health implications of these phenomena. He completed his PhD with Professor Anne Ferguson-Smith at Cambridge University U.K. in 2005. From 2006-2012 he did research in the group of Professor Emma Whitelaw at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane. In both of these laboratories Dr Youngson worked on mouse models of non-genetic inheritance, making discoveries in how epigenetic molecules can be inherited between generations to influence the phenotype of offspring. With his move to UNSW in 2012 to the lab of Professor Margaret Morris his expertise is now being applied to rodent models of human disease, in particular obesity. It has long been known that whether an individual develops obesity or not is due to complex interactions between the environment (such as diet and exercise) and the genome. However, recent evidence from the Morris Laboratory in the School of Medical Sciences, and others has shown that the life-time experiences of an individual’s mother and father also influence the risk of developing obesity. This discovery is especially interesting as it suggests that what we inherit from our parents is more than just DNA, and that extra factor can cause disease. Currently the best explanation for these phenomena is the involvement of epigenetic molecules which can be transferred between generations and can persist for the life-time of an individual. Understanding the role of epigenetic molecules in obesity is an exciting new area for disease research and is likely to provide new avenues for therapeutic innovation.

University role:

Post-Doc Res Fellow (UNSW)

Groups:

3East Metabolic & Neuropharmacology Group

Research

Publications related to this Person

Journal articles

Ng SF; Lin RCY; Maloney CA; Youngson NA; Owens JA; Morris MJ, 2014, 'Paternal high-fat diet consumption induces common changes in the transcriptomes of retroperitoneal adipose and pancreatic islet tissues in female rat offspring', FASEB Journal, vol. 28, pp. 1830 - 1841, http://dx.doi.org/10.1096/fj.13-244046

Youngson NA; Lin P-C; Lin S-S, 2014, 'The convergence of autophagy, small RNA and the stress response – implications for transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in plants', BioMolecular Concepts, vol. 5, pp. 1 - 8, http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/bmc-2013-0032

Nelson AC; Cauceglia JW; Merkley SD; Youngson NA; Oler AJ; Nelson RJ; Cairns BR; Whitelaw E; Potts WK, 2013, 'Reintroducing domesticated wild mice to sociality induces adaptive transgenerational effects on MUP expression', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 110, pp. 19848 - 19853, http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1310427110

Reddington JP; Perricone SM; Nestor CE; Reichmann J; Youngson NA; Suzuki M; Reinhardt D; Dunican DS; Prendergast JG; Mjoseng H, 2013, 'Redistribution of H3K27me3 upon DNA hypomethylation results in de-repression of Polycomb target genes', Genome Biology, vol. 14, http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/gb-2013-14-3-r25

Youngson NA; Epp T; Roberts AR; Daxinger L; Ashe A; Huang E; Lester KL; Harten SK; Kay GF; Cox T, 2013, 'No evidence for cumulative effects in a Dnmt3b hypomorph across multiple generations', Mammalian Genome, vol. 24, pp. 206 - 217, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00335-013-9451-5

Lecomte V; Youngson NA; Maloney CA; Morris MJ, 2013, 'Parental programming: How can we improve study design to discern the molecular mechanisms?', BioEssays, vol. 35, pp. 787 - 793, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bies.201300051

Youngson NA, 2012, 'Challenges and future prospects for non-genetic inheritance', Non-Genetic Inheritance, vol. 1, pp. 1 - 8, http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/ngi-2012-0001

Youngson NA; Chong S; Whitelaw E, 2011, 'Gene silencing is an ancient means of producing multiple phenotypes from the same genotype: Common mechanisms and functions in epigenetic processes can be seen throughout all life forms', BioEssays, vol. 33, pp. 95 - 99, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bies.201000122

Youngson NA; Whitelaw E, 2011, 'The effects of acquired paternal obesity on the next generation', Asian Journal of Andrology, vol. 13, pp. 195 - 196, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/aja.2010.163

Youngson NA; Vickaryous N; Van Der Horst A; Epp T; Harten S; Fleming JS; Khanna KK; De Kretser DM; Whitelaw E, 2011, 'A missense mutation in the transcription factor Foxo3a causes teratomas and oocyte abnormalities in mice', Mammalian Genome, vol. 22, pp. 235 - 248, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00335-011-9317-7

Oey HM; Youngson NA; Whitelaw E, 2011, 'The characterisation of piRNA-related 19mers in the mouse', BMC Genomics, vol. 12, http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-12-315

Roberts AR; Blewitt ME; Youngson NA; Whitelaw E; Chong S, 2011, 'Reduced dosage of the modifiers of epigenetic reprogramming Dnmt1, Dnmt3L, SmcHD1 and Foxo3a has no detectable effect on mouse telomere length in vivo', Chromosoma, vol. 120, pp. 377 - 385, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00412-011-0318-9

Tierling S; Gasparoni G; Youngson N; Paulsen M, 2009, 'The Begain gene marks the centromeric boundary of the imprinted region on mouse chromosome 12', Mammalian Genome, vol. 20, pp. 699 - 710, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00335-009-9205-6

Li X; Ito M; Zhou F; Youngson N; Zuo X; Leder P; Ferguson-Smith AC, 2008, 'A Maternal-Zygotic Effect Gene, Zfp57, Maintains Both Maternal and Paternal Imprints', Developmental Cell, vol. 15, pp. 547 - 557, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2008.08.014

Youngson NA; Whitelaw E, 2008, 'Transgenerational epigenetic effects', Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics, vol. 9, pp. 233 - 257, http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.genom.9.081307.164445

Chong S; Vickaryous N; Ashe A; Zamudio N; Youngson N; Hemley S; Stopka T; Skoultchi A; Matthews J; Scott HS, 2007, 'Modifiers of epigenetic reprogramming show paternal effects in the mouse', Nature Genetics, vol. 39, pp. 614 - 622, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng2031

Chong S; Youngson NA; Whitelaw E, 2007, 'Heritable germline epimutation is not the same as transgenerational epigenetic inheritance [5]', Nature Genetics, vol. 39, pp. 574 - 575, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng0507-574

Youngson NA; Kocialkowski S; Peel N; Ferguson-Smith AC, 2005, 'A small family of sushi-class retrotransposon-derived genes in mammals and their relation to genomic imprinting', Journal of Molecular Evolution, vol. 61, pp. 481 - 490, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00239-004-0332-0

Seitz H; Royo H; Lin SP; Youngson N; Ferguson-Smith AC; Cavaillé J, 2004, 'Imprinted small RNA genes', Biological Chemistry, vol. 385, pp. 905 - 911, http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/BC.2004.118

Ferguson-Smith AC; Lin SP; Youngson N, 2004, 'Regulation of Gene Activity and Repression: A Consideration of Unifying Themes', Current Topics in Developmental Biology, vol. 60, pp. 197 - 213, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0070-2153(04)60006-8

Ferguson-Smith A; Lin SP; Tsai CE; Youngson N; Tevendale M, 2003, 'Genomic imprinting - Insights from studies in mice', Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology, vol. 14, pp. 43 - 49, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1084-9521(02)00171-4

Seitz H; Youngson N; Lin SP; Dalbert S; Paulsen M; Bachellerie JP; Ferguson-Smith AC; Cavaillé J, 2003, 'Imprinted microRNA genes transcribed antisense to a reciprocally imprinted retrotransposon-like gene', Nature Genetics, vol. 34, pp. 261 - 262, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng1171

Lin SP; Youngson N; Takada S; Seitz H; Reik W; Paulsen M; Cavaille J; Ferguson-Smith AC, 2003, 'Asymmetric regulation of imprinting on the maternal and paternal chromosomes at the Dlk1-Gtl2 imprinted cluster on mouse chromosome 12', Nature Genetics, vol. 35, pp. 97 - 102, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng1233

Paulsen M; Takada S; Youngson NA; Benchaib M; Charlier C; Segers K; Georges M; Ferguson-Smith AC, 2001, 'Comparative sequence analysis of the imprinted Dlk1-Gtl2 locus in three mammalian species reveals highly conserved genomic elements and refines comparison with the Igf2-H19 region', Genome Research, vol. 11, pp. 2085 - 2094, http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/gr.206901

Meiklejohn DJ; Riches Z; Youngson N; Vicker MA, 2000, 'The contribution of factor VII gene polymorphisms to longevity in Scottish nonagenarians', Thrombosis and Haemostasis, vol. 83, pp. 519