Dominance relationships between males and their associated traits are usually heritable and have implications for sexual selection in animals.In particular,social dominance and its related male pheromones are heritabl...Dominance relationships between males and their associated traits are usually heritable and have implications for sexual selection in animals.In particular,social dominance and its related male pheromones are heritable in inbred mice;thus,we wondered whether epigenetic changes due to altered levels of DNA methylation determine inheritance.Here,we used C57BL/6 male mice to establish a social dominance-subordination relationship through chronic dyadic encounters,and this relationship and pheromone covariation occurred in their offspring,indicative of heritability.Through transcriptome sequencing and whole-genome DNA methylation profiling of the sperm of both generations,we found that differential methylation of many genes was induced by social dominance-subordination in sires and could be passed on to the offspring.These methylated genes were mainly related to growth and development processes,neurodevelopment,and cellular transportation.The expression of the genes with similar functions in whole-genome methylation/bisulfite sequencing was also differentiated by social dominance-subordination,as revealed by RNA-seq.In particular,the gene Dennd1a,which regulates neural signaling,was differentially methylated and expressed in the sperm and medial prefrontal cortex in paired males before and after dominance-subordination establishment,suggesting the potential epigenetic control and inheritance of social dominance-related aggression.We suggest that social dominance might be passed on to male offspring through sperm DNA methylation and that the differences could potentially affect male competition in offspring by affecting the development of thenervous system.展开更多
DNA methylation is a key chromatin modification in plant genomes that is meiotically and mitotically her- itable, and at times is associated with gene expression and morphological variation. Benefiting from the increa...DNA methylation is a key chromatin modification in plant genomes that is meiotically and mitotically her- itable, and at times is associated with gene expression and morphological variation. Benefiting from the increased availability of high-quality reference genome assemblies and methods to profile single-base res- olution DNA methylation states, DNA methylomes for many crop species are available. These efforts are making it possible to begin answering crucial questions, including understanding the role of DNA methyl- ation in developmental processes, its role in crop species evolution, and whether DNA methylation is dynamically altered and heritable in response to changes in the environment. These genome-wide maps provide evidence for the existence of silent epialleles in plant genomes which, once identified, can be tar- geted for reactivation leading to phenotypic variation.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(grant numbers 31872227 and 32070451)the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(grant no.XDPB16).
文摘Dominance relationships between males and their associated traits are usually heritable and have implications for sexual selection in animals.In particular,social dominance and its related male pheromones are heritable in inbred mice;thus,we wondered whether epigenetic changes due to altered levels of DNA methylation determine inheritance.Here,we used C57BL/6 male mice to establish a social dominance-subordination relationship through chronic dyadic encounters,and this relationship and pheromone covariation occurred in their offspring,indicative of heritability.Through transcriptome sequencing and whole-genome DNA methylation profiling of the sperm of both generations,we found that differential methylation of many genes was induced by social dominance-subordination in sires and could be passed on to the offspring.These methylated genes were mainly related to growth and development processes,neurodevelopment,and cellular transportation.The expression of the genes with similar functions in whole-genome methylation/bisulfite sequencing was also differentiated by social dominance-subordination,as revealed by RNA-seq.In particular,the gene Dennd1a,which regulates neural signaling,was differentially methylated and expressed in the sperm and medial prefrontal cortex in paired males before and after dominance-subordination establishment,suggesting the potential epigenetic control and inheritance of social dominance-related aggression.We suggest that social dominance might be passed on to male offspring through sperm DNA methylation and that the differences could potentially affect male competition in offspring by affecting the development of thenervous system.
文摘DNA methylation is a key chromatin modification in plant genomes that is meiotically and mitotically her- itable, and at times is associated with gene expression and morphological variation. Benefiting from the increased availability of high-quality reference genome assemblies and methods to profile single-base res- olution DNA methylation states, DNA methylomes for many crop species are available. These efforts are making it possible to begin answering crucial questions, including understanding the role of DNA methyl- ation in developmental processes, its role in crop species evolution, and whether DNA methylation is dynamically altered and heritable in response to changes in the environment. These genome-wide maps provide evidence for the existence of silent epialleles in plant genomes which, once identified, can be tar- geted for reactivation leading to phenotypic variation.
