Generational Effects of Chemical Stressors - Molecular Mechanisms of Altered Reproductive Performance

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Co-ordinated networks of gene expression are essential for regulation of sexual reproduction of teleost fishes. The epigenome, including the methylome, is a critical regulator of gene expression and is responsive to environmental stimuli. The methylome is reprogrammed during embryogenesis. Because it is mitotically stable, alterations to the methylome caused by exposure to environmental stimuli during embryogenesis can affect gene expression throughout development, and thus physiological processes such as reproduction. Because the methylome also is meiotically stable, reproductive by generations of fishes can be affected by ancestral alterations to the methylome of the male or female germ line. Thus, alterations of the methylome at very early developmental stages has the potential to cause long-term effects on reproduction. However, this is poorly understood in teleost fishes. The goal of the research described here is to characterize the methylome as a critical regulator of the reproductive performance of fishes exposed to endocrine disrupting chemicals. First (F1) generation fathead minnows (