Although when examined individually, different regions exhibit highly specific responses ( Fig. 4b ; Fig. 5a–b ), large-scale patterns emerge when we use a “macro” view of the entire chromosomal region ( Fig. 2 ). Both increased and decreased peaks of acetylation and DNA methylation are observed throughout the region. In addition, of the 29 transcripts showing statistically significant differences in transcription, all are significantly more expressed among High LG adult offspring (Table S1). These data indicate specificity in transcriptional changes at the single gene level as well as an overall common response at a “large-scale” level consisting of many neighboring genes. The fact that the observed response is a result of a naturally-occurring variation in maternal care rather than average “static” levels of histone acetylation and DNA methylation points to the possibility that a long-range coordinated regulation of genome function may play a role in the long-term programming of the genome.
