Transgenerational epigenomic and genomic dynamics in experimentally divergent populations of artemia

Applicants

Fábio Pértille (UU) and Parisa Norouzitallab (SLU).

Abstract

Recent research has shown that environmental stimuli can affect exposed individuals and also their unexposed descendants. The phenomena, known as transgenerational epigenetic inheritance (TEI), is thought to be mediated by environmentally-altered epigenetic marks in the gametes that are transmitted across generations. TEI has been reported in a variety of vertebrates including lab rodents, fish, quails, ducks and chickens, as well as in invertebrates. Dr. Norouzitallab has shown that exposure of Artemia SPP. to biotic or abiotic environmental insults can lead to an increased robustness of the animals, to the same or a different stressor, in their 3 subsequent (unexposed) generations. This includes the exposure to trace elements, zinc and Cadmium, both of which are documented for being assimilated to the tissue and affect reproduction in marine zooplanktons. In the present study, we will take advantage of the Artemia model system to investigate the methylomic and genomic transgenerational consequences of dividing a founder population into two and exposing one of them to an environmental stress. The experiment will continue until a significant impact on animals’ reproduction is observed. The experimental treatments will be conducted at the Artemia lab at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), while the genomic and epigenomic analyses will take place at the Environmental Epigenetics lab at Uppsala University.