title: Hypoxia causes transgenerational impairments in reproduction of fish.
abstract: Hypoxia is amongst the most widespread and pressing problems in aquatic environments. Here we demonstrate that fish (Oryzias melastigma) exposed to hypoxia show reproductive impairments (retarded gonad development, decrease in sperm count and sperm motility) in F1 and F2 generations despite these progenies (and their germ cells) having never been exposed to hypoxia. We further show that the observed transgenerational reproductive impairments are associated with a differential methylation pattern of specific genes in sperm of both F0 and F2 coupled with relevant transcriptomic and proteomic alterations, which may impair spermatogenesis. The discovered transgenerational and epigenetic effects suggest that hypoxia might pose a dramatic and long-lasting threat to the sustainability of fish populations. Because the genes regulating spermatogenesis and epigenetic modifications are highly conserved among vertebrates, these results may also shed light on the potential transgenerational effects of hypoxia on other vertebrates, including humans.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Simon Yuan
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR, China.|Department of Biology and Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Keng-Po
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8135-6030
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Jiang-Wen
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Anna Chung-Kwan
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Tse
authors.affiliation: Hong Kong Bioinformatics Centre, School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Jing-Woei
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Yin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.affiliation: Hong Kong Bioinformatics Centre, School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Ting-Fung
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong SAR, China.|State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Chris Kong-Chu
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong SAR, China.|State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Jill Man-Ying
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.|State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Doris Wai-Ting
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Au
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Alice Sze-Tsai
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.|State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Richard Yuen-Chong
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, Hong Kong SAR, China.|Department of Science and Environmental Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Rudolf Shiu-Sun
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D029941:Fish Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008239:Lysine / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009990:Oryzias / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D040901:Proteomics; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology*; D013737:Testis / Q000378:metabolism; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D029941:Fish Proteins; D006657:Histones; D008239:Lysine