Abstract
Abstract
Background
Epigenetic processes are proposed to be a mechanism regulating gene expression during phenotypic plasticity. However, environmentally induced changes in DNA methylation exhibit little-to-no association with differential gene expression in metazoans at a transcriptome-wide level. It remains unexplored whether associations between environmentally induced differential methylation and expression are contingent upon other epigenomic processes such as chromatin accessibility. We quantified methylation and gene expression in larvae of the purple sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus exposed to different ecologically relevant conditions during gametogenesis (maternal conditioning) and modeled changes in gene expression and splicing resulting from maternal conditioning as functions of differential methylation, incorporating covariates for genomic features and chromatin accessibility. We detected significant interactions between differential methylation, chromatin accessibility, and genic feature type associated with differential expression and splicing.
Results
Differential gene body methylation had significantly stronger effects on expression among genes with poorly accessible transcriptional start sites while baseline transcript abundance influenced the direction of this effect. Transcriptional responses to maternal conditioning were 4–13 × more likely when accounting for interactions between methylation and chromatin accessibility, demonstrating that the relationship between differential methylation and gene regulation is partially explained by chromatin state.
Conclusions
DNA methylation likely possesses multiple associations with gene regulation during transgenerational plasticity in S. purpuratus and potentially other metazoans, but its effects are dependent on chromatin accessibility and underlying genic features.
Funder
Division of Biological Infrastructure
Directorate for Geosciences
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Cell Biology,Developmental Biology,Plant Science,General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,Physiology,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics,Structural Biology,Biotechnology
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