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An example of DNA methylation as a means to quantify stress in wildlife using killer whales.

ABSTRACT: The cumulative effects of non-lethal stressors on the health of biodiversity are a primary concern for conservation, yet difficulties remain regarding their quantification. In mammals, many stressors are processed through a common stress-response pathway, and therefore epigenetic changes in genes of this pathway may provide a powerful tool for quantifying cumulative effects. As a preliminary assessment of this approach, we investigated epigenetic manifestations of stress in two killer whale populations with different levels of exposure to anthropogenic stressors. We used bisulfite amplicon sequencing to compare patterns of DNA methylation at 25 CpG sites found in three genes involved in stress response and identified large differences in the level of methylation at two sites consistent with differential stress exposure between Northern and Southern Resident killer whale populations. DNA methylation patterns could therefore represent a useful method to assess the cumulative effects of non-lethal stressors in wildlife.

SUBMITTER: Crossman CA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8377091 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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An example of DNA methylation as a means to quantify stress in wildlife using killer whales.

Crossman Carla A CA Barrett-Lennard Lance G LG Frasier Timothy R TR

Scientific reports 20210819 1

The cumulative effects of non-lethal stressors on the health of biodiversity are a primary concern for conservation, yet difficulties remain regarding their quantification. In mammals, many stressors are processed through a common stress-response pathway, and therefore epigenetic changes in genes of this pathway may provide a powerful tool for quantifying cumulative effects. As a preliminary assessment of this approach, we investigated epigenetic manifestations of stress in two killer whale popu ...[more]

PMID: 34413356

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Dataset Information

An example of DNA methylation as a means to quantify stress in wildlife using killer whales.

Publications

An example of DNA methylation as a means to quantify stress in wildlife using killer whales.

Similar Datasets

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