Acute dietary methionine restriction highlights sensitivity of neocortex development to metabolic variations

Methionine, an essential amino acid that has to be provided by nutrition, and its metabolite S-Adenosyl methionine (SAM) are indispensable for cell proliferation, stem cell maintenance and epigenetic regulation, three processes that are central to embryonic development. Previous studies using chronic dietary restriction of methyl donors prior to and during gestation indicated that methionine restriction (MR) is detrimental to the development or growth of the neocortex, however, the consequences of acute MR have not been extensively studied. Here, we designed a dietary MR regime coinciding with the neurogenic phases of neocortex development in the mouse. Our results indicate that dietary MR for 5 days leads to a severe reduction in neocortex growth and neuronal production. In comparison, growth of the liver and heart was unaffected, highlighting an organ-specific response to MR which was also observed at the cellular and molecular levels. Progenitor cohort labeling revealed a time-dependent sensitivity to MR and cell cycle analyses indicated that after 5 days of MR, progenitors are stalled in the S/G2 phases. Unexpectedly, neocortex growth reduction induced after 5 days of MR is completely rescued at birth when switching the dam back to control diet for the remaining of gestation, uncovering a mechanism of catch-up growth. Using multiplexed imaging we probed metabolic and epigenetic markers following MR and during catch-up growth and show that pyruvate metabolism is rewired in progenitors. Altogether, our data uncover a transient state of quiescence in G2/S which is metabolically distinct from G0 quiescence and associated with efficient catch-up growth. More globally, our study highlights both the extreme sensitivity of the developing neocortex to acute dietary changes and its remarkable plasticity.