Two different epigenetic information channels in wild three-spined sticklebacks are involved in salinity adaptation.

ABSTRACT: Epigenetic inheritance has been proposed to contribute to adaptation and acclimation via two information channels: (i) inducible epigenetic marks that enable transgenerational plasticity and (ii) noninducible epigenetic marks resulting from random epimutations shaped by selection. We studied both postulated channels by sequencing methylomes and genomes of Baltic three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) along a salinity cline. Wild populations differing in salinity tolerance revealed differential methylation (pop-DMS) at genes enriched for osmoregulatory processes. A two-generation experiment demonstrated that 62% of these pop-DMS were noninducible by salinity manipulation, suggesting that they are the result of either direct selection or associated genomic divergence at ci

SUBMITTER: Heckwolf MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7083608 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature