Environmental regulation of epigenetics in aquatic teleosts

水生硬骨鱼表观遗传学的环境调控

• 批准号: RGPIN-2015-05643
• 负责人: Craig, Paul
• 金额: $ 2.11万
• 依托单位: University of Waterloo
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=648247
• 关键词: Environmental; regulation; epigenetics; aquatic; teleosts

Aquatic ecosystems are currently facing a myriad of abiotic (e.g. temperature, oxygen availability, acidification) and anthropogenic (e.g. pharmaceutical contaminants, metals, agricultural runoff) influences that have a significant impact on the health of the environment and the organisms that depend upon it. These threats are numerous and are not independent, but work cumulatively to alter our ecosystems. However, our ability to ensure ecosystem sustainability is limited by our capacity to understand and predict how the various stressors resulting from these threats interact to cause change. While individual stressors poses documented problems for aquatic ecosystems, the concern is that combinations of these effects will create even more significant challenges to these environments and, more specifically, aquatic organisms living in them. Many regulations, policies, monitoring and remediation programs are based on an understanding of only single factors (e.g., temperature or one specific pollutant) and are therefore inadequate. It is upon this that my research program is based - to gain a fundamental understanding of multiple, mixed stressors found within the environment and the impact upon aquatic species, specifically teleost fishes. By taking an integrative approach, my research program will cross all levels of biological organization, from DNA regulation to whole animal physiology towards making predictions regarding the impact of mixed stressors on species health and abundance. My research will focus on abiotic factors associated with climate change (temperature/hypoxia) in combination with emerging organic pollutants (pharmaceuticals), which have been shown to target numerous fish species. This novel approach will examine how the environment affects epigenetic regulation, and the downstream, functional consequences of these changes. Epigenetics is defined by examining the inheritance of variation beyond changes in DNA sequence. Epigenetic regulation, through DNA methylation, histone modification, and non-coding RNA may profoundly alter transcriptional and translational effects of gene expression, and it is now clear that these mechanisms are influenced by environmental stressors, both natural and anthropogenic, acting as the interface between the genome and the environment. Not only will I compare and contrast epigenetic regulation within the lifespan of teleosts, but also examine the intra- and inter-generational inheritance of epigenetic mechanisms from maternal and paternal sources, which will highlight the susceptibility of future generations from prior environmental stress exposure. Focusing on both model genomic (zebrafish) and physiological (rainbow trout) species, I will significantly advance our understanding of complex ecosystem interactions using integrated multi-stressor experimentation.

水生生态系统目前面临着无数非生物(如温度、氧气供应、酸化)和人为(如药物污染物、金属、农业径流)的影响，这些影响对环境及其赖以生存的生物体的健康有重大影响。这些威胁数不胜数，不是独立的，而是累积在一起改变我们的生态系统。然而，我们确保生态系统可持续性的能力受到我们理解和预测这些威胁产生的各种压力如何相互作用导致变化的能力的限制。虽然个别应激源给水生生态系统带来了有案可查的问题，但令人担忧的是，这些影响的组合将对这些环境，更具体地说，对生活在其中的水生生物造成更大的挑战。许多法规、政策、监测和补救方案仅基于对单一因素(例如，温度或一种特定污染物)的了解，因此是不够的。正是基于这一点，我的研究计划是基于-获得在环境中发现的多个、混合的应激源及其对水生物种的影响的基本了解，特别是硬骨鱼。通过采取综合的方法，我的研究计划将跨越生物组织的所有级别，从DNA调控到整个动物生理学，再到预测混合应激源对物种健康和丰度的影响。我的研究将集中在与气候变化(温度/低氧)相关的非生物因素以及新出现的有机污染物(药物)上，这些污染物已被证明针对许多鱼类物种。这一新的方法将研究环境如何影响表观遗传调控，以及这些变化的下游功能后果。表观遗传学是通过研究DNA序列变化以外的变异的遗传来定义的。表观遗传调控，通过DNA甲基化、组蛋白修饰和非编码RNA，可以深刻地改变基因表达的转录和翻译效应，现在清楚的是，这些机制受到环境应激源的影响，包括自然和人为的，作为基因组和环境之间的界面。我不仅将比较和对比硬骨鱼生命周期内的表观遗传调控，而且还将研究来自母本和父本的表观遗传机制的代内和代际遗传，这将突出后代对先前环境应激暴露的易感性。将重点放在模式基因组(斑马鱼)和生理物种(虹鲑鱼)上，我将通过集成的多应激源实验极大地促进我们对复杂生态系统相互作用的理解。