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. 2012 Jan 2:2:116.
doi: 10.3389/fphys.2011.00116. eCollection 2012.

Is There a Relationship between DNA Methylation and Phenotypic Plasticity in Invertebrates?

Steven B Roberts  1 , Mackenzie R Gavery
Affiliations

Is There a Relationship between DNA Methylation and Phenotypic Plasticity in Invertebrates?

Steven B Roberts et al. Front Physiol. .

Abstract

There is a significant amount of variation in DNA methylation characteristics across organisms. Likewise, the biological role of DNA methylation varies across taxonomic lineages. The complexity of DNA methylation patterns in invertebrates has only recently begun to be characterized in-depth. In some invertebrate species that have been examined to date, methylated DNA is found primarily within coding regions and patterning is closely associated with gene function. Here we provide a perspective on the potential role of DNA methylation in these invertebrates with a focus on how limited methylation may contribute to increased phenotypic plasticity in highly fluctuating environments. Specifically, limited methylation could facilitate a variety of transcriptional opportunities including access to alternative transcription start sites, increasing sequence mutations, exon skipping, and transient methylation.

Keywords: adaptation; epigenetic; methylation; oyster; plasticity.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Predicted methylation level of C. gigas genes categorized by biological processes compared to measured level of DNA methylation. Mean CpG O/E for 10,699 C. gigas genes categorized according to Biological Process Gene Ontology (GO) Slim terms are plotted on the x-axis (modified from Gavery and Roberts, 2010). DNA methylation was empirically measured by performing MBD-seq on the SOLiD 4 platform (Applied Biosystems). Genes identified in the MBD-library were associated with respective GO terms and enrichment analysis was performed based on the entire transcriptome (Fleury et al., 2009) using DAVID (Huang et al., 2009a,b). Results indicate the most underrepresented genes in the library are involved in cell adhesion and genes involved in DNA and protein metabolism were most prevalent in the MBD-library.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic representation of a how DNA methylation potentially influences transcriptional activity in invertebrate species. This theory proposes the absence of germline methylation (sparse methylation) contributes to adaptive potential by allowing for multiple transcriptional opportunities. Transcriptional opportunities are diagrammed for genes with sparse methylation (a–d) and genes methylated at the germline (e). Dashed lines represent the 5′ UTR, solid lines represent exons and gray lines indicate introns. “M” designates a methylated CpG. “x” Represents a sequence mutation. Ovals represent putative promoter complexes.
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