Project description:Although cyanobacteria produce a wide range of natural toxins that impact aquatic organisms, food webs and water quality, the mechanisms of toxicity are still insufficiently understood. Here, we implemented a whole-genome expression microarray to identify pathways, gene networks and paralogous gene families responsive to Microcystis stress in Daphnia pulex. Therefore, neonates of a sensitive isolate were given a diet contaminated with Microcystis to contrast with those given a control diet for sixteen days. The microarray revealed 2247 differentially expressed (DE) genes (7.6% of the array) in response to Microcystis, of which 17% are lineage specific and 49% are gene duplicates (paralogs). We identified four pathways/gene networks and eight paralogous gene families affected by Microcystis. Differential regulation of the ribosome including 3 paralogous gene families encoding 40S, 60S and mitochondrial ribosomal proteins, suggests an impact of Microcystis on protein synthesis of Daphnia. In addition, differential regulation of the oxidative phosphorylation pathway, including the NADH ubquinone oxidoreductase gene family, and trypsin paralogous gene family, major component of the digestive system in Daphnia, could explain why fitness is reduced based on energy budget considerations. For others (.e.g Neurexin IV), a link with fitness remains to be established. RNA was isolated from three independent and concurrently replicated exposures of Daphnia to control and Microcystis conditions. RNA was hybridized to 4 microarrays using a standard, control vs. treated design that included dye swaps.
Project description:Although cyanobacteria produce a wide range of natural toxins that impact aquatic organisms, food webs and water quality, the mechanisms of toxicity are still insufficiently understood. Here, we implemented a whole-genome expression microarray to identify pathways, gene networks and paralogous gene families responsive to Microcystis stress in Daphnia pulex. Therefore, neonates of a sensitive isolate were given a diet contaminated with Microcystis to contrast with those given a control diet for sixteen days. The microarray revealed 2247 differentially expressed (DE) genes (7.6% of the array) in response to Microcystis, of which 17% are lineage specific and 49% are gene duplicates (paralogs). We identified four pathways/gene networks and eight paralogous gene families affected by Microcystis. Differential regulation of the ribosome including 3 paralogous gene families encoding 40S, 60S and mitochondrial ribosomal proteins, suggests an impact of Microcystis on protein synthesis of Daphnia. In addition, differential regulation of the oxidative phosphorylation pathway, including the NADH ubquinone oxidoreductase gene family, and trypsin paralogous gene family, major component of the digestive system in Daphnia, could explain why fitness is reduced based on energy budget considerations. For others (.e.g Neurexin IV), a link with fitness remains to be established.
Project description:Little is known about the influence that environmental stressors may have on genome-wide methylation patterns, and to what extent epigenetics may be involved in environmental stress response. Yet, studies of methylation patterns under stress could provide crucial insights on stress response and toxicity pathways. Here, we focus on genome-wide methylation patterns in the micro-crustacean Daphnia magna, a model organism in ecotoxicology and risk assessment, exposed to the toxic cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa. Bisulfite sequencing of exposed and control animals highlighted differential methylation patterns in Daphnia upon exposure to Microcystis primarily in exonic regions. These patterns are enriched for serine/threonine amino acid codons and genes related to protein synthesis, transport and degradation. Furthermore, we observed that genes with differential methylation corresponded well with genes susceptible to alternative splicing in response to Microcystis stress. Overall, our results suggest a complex mechanistic response in Daphnia characterized by interactions between DNA methylation and gene regulation mechanisms. These results underscore that DNA methylation is modulated by environmental stress and can also be an integral part of the toxicity response in our study species.
Project description:Microcystins are produced by the cyanobacteria, most commonly Microcystis aerµginosa. Upon ingestion, toxic microcystins are actively absorbed by fish, birds and mammals where they are primarily liver toxins.
Project description:Background Daphnia species reproduce by cyclic parthenogenesis involving both sexual and asexual reproduction. The sex of the offspring is environmentally determined and mediated via endocrine signalling by the mother. Interestingly, male and female Daphnia can be genetically identical, yet display large differences in behaviour, morphology, lifespan and metabolic activity. Our goal was to integrate multiple omics datasets, including gene expression, splicing, histone modification and DNA methylation data generated from genetically identical female and male Daphnia pulex under controlled laboratory settings with the aim of achieving a better understanding of the underlying epigenetic factors that may contribute to the phenotypic differences observed between the two genders. Results In this study we demonstrate that gene expression level is positively correlated with increased DNA methylation, and histone H3 trimethylation at lysine 4 (H3K4me3) at predicted promoter regions. Conversely, elevated histone H3 trimethylation at lysine 27 (H3K27me3), distributed across the entire transcript length, is negatively correlated with gene expression level. Interestingly, male Daphnia are dominated with epigenetic modifications that globally promote elevated gene expression, while female Daphnia are dominated with epigenetic modifications that reduce gene expression globally. For examples, CpG methylation (positively correlated with gene expression level) is significantly higher in almost all differentially methylated sites in male compared to female Daphnia. Furthermore, H3K4me3 modifications are higher in male compared to female Daphnia in more than 3/4 of the differentially regulated promoters. On the other hand, H3K27me3 is higher in female compared to male Daphnia in more than 5/6 of differentially modified sites. However, both sexes demonstrate roughly equal number of genes that are up-regulated in one gender compared to the other sex. Since, gene expression analyses typically assume that most genes are expressed at equal level among samples and different conditions, and thus cannot detect global changes affecting most genes. Conclusions The epigenetic differences between male and female in Daphnia pulex are vast and dominated by changes that promote elevated gene expression in male Daphnia. Furthermore, the differences observed in both gene expression changes and epigenetic modifications between the genders relate to pathways that are physiologically relevant to the observed phenotypic differences.
Project description:The availability of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in food items influences the fitness of organisms at higher trophic levels. Omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids are essential compounds that cannot be synthesised de novo in these animals. Especially the omega 3 PUFA eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) is an important molecule, as it is a limiting nutritional component for growth and reproduction in numerous marine and freshwater zooplankton species. With our transcriptomic study in Daphnia magna we address the transcriptomic network behind the metabolism and conversion that is connected to physiological EPA-limitation under temperature stress (20°C vs. 15°C).
Project description:We investigated the ALDH2*2 genetic polymorphism and its underlying mechanisms for the first time in a human model system of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) generated from individuals carrying the most common heterozygous form of the ALDH2*2 genotype. We showed that the ALDH2*2 mutation confers elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and toxic aldehydes such as 4HNE, thereby inducing cell cycle arrest and activation of apoptotic signaling pathways, especially during ischemic injury. ALDH2 exerts control of cell survival decisions via modulation of oxidative stress levels. This regulatory circuitry was found to be dysfunctional in the loss-of-function ALDH2*2 genotype, causing upregulation of apoptosis in cardiomyocytes following ischemic insult. These results reveal a novel function of the metabolic enzyme ALDH2 in modulation of cell survival decisions. Molecular mechanism of increased ischemic damage in cardiomyocytes of ALDH2*2 genotype.
Project description:Geographically distinct populations can adapt to the temperature conditions of their local environment, leading to temperature-dependent fitness differences between populations. Consistent with local adaptation, phylogeographically distinct Caenorhabditis briggsae nematodes show distinct fitness responses to temperature. The genetic mechanisms underlying local adaptation, however, remain unresolved. To investigate the potential role of small noncoding RNAs in genotype-specific responses to temperature, we quantified small RNA expression using high-throughput sequencing of C. briggsae nematodes from tropical and temperate strain genotypes reared under three temperature conditions (14˚, 20˚, 30˚C). Strains representing both tropical and temperate regions showed significantly lower expression of PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) at high temperatures, primarily mapping to a large ~7 Mb long piRNA cluster on chromosome IV. We also documented decreased expression of 22G-RNAs antisense to protein-coding genes and other genomic features at high rearing temperatures for the thermally-intolerant temperate strain genotype, but not for the tropical strain genotype. Reduced 22G-RNA expression was widespread along chromosomes and among feature types, indicative of a genome-wide response. Targets of the EGO-1/CSR-1 22G-RNA pathway were most strongly impacted compared to other 22G-RNA pathways, implicating the CSR-1 Argonaute and its RNA-dependent RNA polymerase EGO-1 in the genotype-dependent modulation of C. briggsae 22G-RNAs under chronic thermal stress. Our work suggests that gene regulation via small RNAs may be an important contributor to the evolution of local adaptations.