Does DNA methylation facilitate phenotypic plasticity in marine invertebrates?Steven RobertsSchool of Aquatic and Fishery Sciencesrobertslab.info@sr320

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Does DNA methylation facilitate phenotypic plasticity in marine invertebrates?

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commercially important traits

Lab Background

commercially important traits

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Lab Background

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Today

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Histone Modification

Epigenetics

short RNAs

DNA Methylation

Photo credit: Flickr, Creative Commons, he-boden

Epigenetics

Epigenetics

m

m

DNA Methylation

Function?

Non-Vertebrates?

landscape and function is very different than what is observed in vertebrates

Non-Vertebrates?

landscape and function is very different than what is observed in vertebrates

Non-Vertebrates?

landscape and function is very different than what is observed in vertebrates

Absent in severalmodel

organisms

Function?Oysters?

mosaic

associated with gene bodies

Roberts and Gavery 2012

in silico analysis

Roberts and Gavery 2012

in silico analysis

Roberts and Gavery 2012

in silico analysis

Two Lineages-

Sperm + Larvae

(72h & 120h)

Claire Olson

Whole Genome BS-Seq

Claire Olson

Differentially Methylated Loci predominant in Transposable Elements

Claire Olsongithub.com/sr320/olson-dev

Summary

• Sparsely (~16 %) methylated genome

• Gene body methylation• Function specific

• TEs are not hypermethylated across genome• Preliminary evidence indicates DMRs are predominant in TEs

Role?

In species that experience a diverse range of environmental conditions, processes have evolved to

increase the number of potential phenotypes in a population in order to improve the chances for an

individual’s survival.

Roberts and Gavery 2012

in silico analysis

Stochastic Variation

housekeeping response to change

Mackenzie Gavery

housekeeping

response to change

Targeted Regulation

Mackenzie Gavery

Mackenzie Gavery

Transposable Elements providing increased diversity?

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Beginning totest these

Hypotheses

Very new dataEnvironment and gene expression

stochastic or targeted?

Very new dataEnvironmental impact (Estrogens)

Very new dataOcean AcidificationSelectionEnvironmental Impact

Katie Lotterhos

Very new dataHeritabilityPlasticityLocal Adaptation

Geneticsversus

Epigenetics

Common Garden Experiment

Acknowledgements

Mackenzie GaveryClaire Ellis

Sam White

Bill HoweDan Halperin

EPASTARDNA methylation

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