Modifications to gene body methylation do not alter gene expression plasticity in a reef‐building coral
Abstract As coral reefs continue to decline due to climate change, the role of coral epigenetics (specifically, gene body methylation, GBM) in coral acclimatization warrants investigation. The evidence is currently conflicting. In diverse animal phyla, the baseline GBM level is associated with gene...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Evolutionary Applications |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.13662 |
| _version_ | 1797294384918560768 |
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| author | Evelyn Abbott Coral Loockerman Mikhail V. Matz |
| author_facet | Evelyn Abbott Coral Loockerman Mikhail V. Matz |
| author_sort | Evelyn Abbott |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract As coral reefs continue to decline due to climate change, the role of coral epigenetics (specifically, gene body methylation, GBM) in coral acclimatization warrants investigation. The evidence is currently conflicting. In diverse animal phyla, the baseline GBM level is associated with gene function: continuously expressed “housekeeping” genes are typically highly methylated, while inducible context‐dependent genes have low or no methylation at all. Some authors report an association between GBM and the environment and interpret this observation as evidence of the GBM's role in acclimatization. Yet, others argue that the correlation between GBM change and gene expression change is typically absent or negligible. Here, we used the reef‐building coral, Acropora millepora, to test whether environmentally driven changes in GBM are associated with a gene's ability to respond to environmental changes (plasticity) rather than expression level. We analyzed two cases of modified gene expression plasticity observed in a 3‐week‐long heat acclimatization experiment. The first one was a group of heat‐induced genes that failed to revert their expression after the coral was translocated back to the control tank. The second case involved genes that changed the magnitude of their response to the daily temperature fluctuations over the course of the experiment. In both cases, we found negligible or no association with GBM change. We conclude that although both gene expression plasticity and GBM can change during acclimatization, there is no direct association between the two. This adds to the increasing volume of evidence that the function of GBM in invertebrates is unrelated to acclimatization on physiological timescales. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T21:29:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-22f39dbb31704707a88d2f9b0fd902b3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1752-4571 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T21:29:28Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Evolutionary Applications |
| spelling | doaj.art-22f39dbb31704707a88d2f9b0fd902b32024-02-27T00:12:39ZengWileyEvolutionary Applications1752-45712024-02-01172n/an/a10.1111/eva.13662Modifications to gene body methylation do not alter gene expression plasticity in a reef‐building coralEvelyn Abbott0Coral Loockerman1Mikhail V. Matz2Department of Integrative Biology University of Texas at Austin Austin Texas USAUniversity of Hawai'i at Manoa Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology Kaneohe Kaneohe Hawaiʻi USADepartment of Integrative Biology University of Texas at Austin Austin Texas USAAbstract As coral reefs continue to decline due to climate change, the role of coral epigenetics (specifically, gene body methylation, GBM) in coral acclimatization warrants investigation. The evidence is currently conflicting. In diverse animal phyla, the baseline GBM level is associated with gene function: continuously expressed “housekeeping” genes are typically highly methylated, while inducible context‐dependent genes have low or no methylation at all. Some authors report an association between GBM and the environment and interpret this observation as evidence of the GBM's role in acclimatization. Yet, others argue that the correlation between GBM change and gene expression change is typically absent or negligible. Here, we used the reef‐building coral, Acropora millepora, to test whether environmentally driven changes in GBM are associated with a gene's ability to respond to environmental changes (plasticity) rather than expression level. We analyzed two cases of modified gene expression plasticity observed in a 3‐week‐long heat acclimatization experiment. The first one was a group of heat‐induced genes that failed to revert their expression after the coral was translocated back to the control tank. The second case involved genes that changed the magnitude of their response to the daily temperature fluctuations over the course of the experiment. In both cases, we found negligible or no association with GBM change. We conclude that although both gene expression plasticity and GBM can change during acclimatization, there is no direct association between the two. This adds to the increasing volume of evidence that the function of GBM in invertebrates is unrelated to acclimatization on physiological timescales.https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.13662adaptationclimate changeepigeneticsphenotypic plasticitytranscriptomics |
| spellingShingle | Evelyn Abbott Coral Loockerman Mikhail V. Matz Modifications to gene body methylation do not alter gene expression plasticity in a reef‐building coral Evolutionary Applications adaptation climate change epigenetics phenotypic plasticity transcriptomics |
| title | Modifications to gene body methylation do not alter gene expression plasticity in a reef‐building coral |
| title_full | Modifications to gene body methylation do not alter gene expression plasticity in a reef‐building coral |
| title_fullStr | Modifications to gene body methylation do not alter gene expression plasticity in a reef‐building coral |
| title_full_unstemmed | Modifications to gene body methylation do not alter gene expression plasticity in a reef‐building coral |
| title_short | Modifications to gene body methylation do not alter gene expression plasticity in a reef‐building coral |
| title_sort | modifications to gene body methylation do not alter gene expression plasticity in a reef building coral |
| topic | adaptation climate change epigenetics phenotypic plasticity transcriptomics |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.13662 |
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