Fasting alters DNA element activity differently across mouse tissues
After four months, mice fasting 16 hours daily showed altered activity at 5,359 DNA elements in liver and 620 in muscle versus unrestricted feeding.
Our read
Interventions- Studied:
- Experiments in male C57BL/6 mice, four months, against unrestricted feeding
- What changed:
- Fasting altered activity at 5,359 DNA elements in liver and 620 in muscle compared with unrestricted feeding
- The catch:
- Only eight mice per group supported the tissue-specific activity results
- In the record:
- One of 808 papers on intermittent fasting on record: 192 with results in people, 208 in animals.
- Why it’s aging research:
- An intervention with evidence on lifespan or healthspan.
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
An experiment in male C57BL/6 mice compared 16 hours of daily fasting for four months with unrestricted feeding, using eight mice per group. The researchers measured the activity of genes and transposable elements—DNA sequences that can move within the genome—in liver, skeletal muscle and the cerebral cortex.
Fasting altered element activity most strongly in liver, less in muscle and minimally in cortex. In liver and muscle, elements and nearby genes showed coordinated activity. Analyses linked these gene groups to protein production and metabolism in liver, and muscle contraction in skeletal muscle. The authors suggest that the elements may help regulate neighboring genes.
Why it matters
Understanding how dietary interventions influence gene regulation offers a starting point for investigating whether these responses matter for health during aging.
Caveats
Coordinated activity does not establish that the DNA elements regulated nearby genes. These molecular results came from male mice and do not establish benefits for health or lifespan.
- Intermittent fasting
- Chromatin and 3D genome organization
- Mitochondrial fission and fusion
- Transposable element activity
- Differentially expressed transposable elements
- Mice
The paper
Intermittent fasting rewires tissue-specific gene-transposable element regulatory networks
La Trobe University
PNAS Nexus, Jul 27, 2026, Open access
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