title: Bisulfite Sequencing with Daphnia Highlights a Role for Epigenetics in Regulating Stress Response to Microcystis through Preferential Differential Methylation of Serine and Threonine Amino Acids.
abstract: 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 microcrustacean 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.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Environmental Toxicology and Aquatic Ecology (GhEnToxLab), Ghent University , Ghent, B-9000, Belgium.|Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame , Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, United States.
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Asselman
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Environmental Toxicology and Aquatic Ecology (GhEnToxLab), Ghent University , Ghent, B-9000, Belgium.
authors.forename: Dieter Im
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: De Coninck
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Aquatic Biology, KU Leuven-Kulak , Kortrijk, B-8500, Belgium.
authors.forename: Eline
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Beert
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Environmental Toxicology and Aquatic Ecology (GhEnToxLab), Ghent University , Ghent, B-9000, Belgium.
authors.forename: Colin R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Janssen
authors.affiliation: Environmental Genomics Group, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham , Birmingham, B15 2TT, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Luisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Orsini
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame , Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, United States.|Environmental Change Initiative, University of Notre Dame , Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, United States.
authors.forename: Michael E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Pfrender
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Aquatic Biology, KU Leuven-Kulak , Kortrijk, B-8500, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Decaestecker
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Environmental Toxicology and Aquatic Ecology (GhEnToxLab), Ghent University , Ghent, B-9000, Belgium.
authors.forename: Karel Ac
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: De Schamphelaere
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D003621:Daphnia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D046931:Microcystis / Q000378:metabolism*; D012694:Serine; D013912:Threonine
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D013912:Threonine; D012694:Serine