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: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=708664
• 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（例如温度、氧气可用性、酸化）和人为（例如药物污染物、金属、农业径流）影响，这些影响对环境和依赖环境的生物体的健康产生重大影响。这些威胁数量众多且不是独立的，而是日积月累地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源如何相互作用导致变化的能力的限制。虽然单个压力源给水生生态系统带来了有记录的问题，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重大的挑战。许多法规、政策、监测和修复计划仅基于对单一因素（例如温度或一种特定污染物）的理解，因此是不够的。我的研究计划正是基于此——对环境中发现的多种混合压力源以及对水生物种（特别是硬骨鱼）的影响有一个基本的了解。通过采取综合方法，我的研究计划将跨越生物组织的各个层面，从 DNA 调控到整个动物生理学，再到预测混合压力源对物种健康和丰富度的影响。我的研究将重点关注与气候变化（温度/缺氧）相关的非生物因素以及新兴的有机污染物（药物），这些污染物已被证明针对多种鱼类。这种新颖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。表观遗传学的定义是检查 DNA 序列变化之外的变异遗传。通过 DNA 甲基化、组蛋白修饰和非编码 RNA 进行的表观遗传调控可能会深刻地改变基因表达的转录和翻译效应，现在很清楚，这些机制受到环境压力源的影响，包括自然的和人为的，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，还将研究来自母本和父本来源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压力暴露的敏感性。我将重点关注模型基因组（斑马鱼）和生理（虹鳟鱼）物种，利用综合多压力源实验显着增进我们对复杂生态系统相互作用的理解。