DNA methylation plays a crucial role during early Nasonia development

Abstract

Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. Although the role of DNA methylation in insect development is still poorly understood, the number and role of DNA methyltransferases in insects vary strongly between species. DNA methylation appears to be widely present among the social hymenoptera and functional studies in Apis have suggested a crucial role for de novo methylation in a wide variety of developmental processes. The sequencing of three parasitoid Nasonia genomes revealed the presence of three Dnmt1 (Dnmt1a, Dnmt1b and Dnmt1c) genes and one Dnmt2 and Dnmt3 gene, suggesting a role of DNA methylation in Nasonia development. In the present study we show that in Nasonia vitripennis all Dnmt1 messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and Dnmt3 mRNA are maternally provided to the embryo and, of these, Dnmt1a is essential during early embryogenesis. Lowering of maternal Dnmt1a mRNA results in embryonic lethality during the onset of gastrulation. This dependence on maternal Dnmt1a during embryogenesis in an organismal group outside the vertebrates, suggests evolutionary conservation of the function of Dnmt1 during embryogenesis.

The mysterious presence of a 5-methylcytosine oxidase in theDrosophilagenome

“…23 This difference in results was attributed to a lack of specificity of the earlier applied methods in comparison to the highly selective and comprehensive whole genome bisulfite sequencing used in the latest publication. However there are numerous reported cases of insects, including ants, aphids, bees, flies, and beetles (Acyrthosiphon pisum, Aedes aegypti, Apis mellifera, Camponotus floridanus, Harpegnathos saltator, Nasonia vitripennis, Tribolium castaneum) having clearly detectable levels and specific patterns of 5mC, [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] which would mean that the absence of DNA methylation in Drosophila melanogaster would seemingly be unique within this class of animals. Particularly wellstudied cases can be found with honeybees and ants 25,32 whose epigenetic machinery has much more in common with mammals than that found in Drosophila.…”

Genetic and epigenetic architecture of sex-biased expression in the jewel wasps Nasonia vitripennis and giraulti

“…As such, Nasonia can be used to address questions concerning the extent to which DNA methylation has evolved taxon-specific functions and what features are conserved across the hymenoptera and other insects with DNA methylation. All three DNA methyltranferases are present in the Nasonia genome (28), and DNA methylation is critical for many biological processes including early embryonic development (29). Recently, we analyzed the DNA methylome in N. vitripennis at a base-pair resolution using whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS-seq) (30).…”

The contribution of individual and maternal experience in shaping Daphnia life history

“…Mothers, therefore, had a more subtle impact on the development of their offspring via molecular or epigenetic transfer. Indeed, nongenetic transfer of information from parental to offspring generation has gained much attention in the past years (e.g., Haussmann et al, 2012;Hayward et al, 2012;Schwarzenberger & von Elert, 2012;Wu et al, 2012;Zwier et al, 2012) due to the fact that epigenetic processes often outweigh genetic background in the shaping of phenotypes. Due to the important role of the mother during early development, there is much ongoing research on the means by which maternal effects can shape the individual, i.e., on (1) how and when maternal effects change the developmental trajectory to permanently alter the adult's phenotype, (2) molecular mechanisms associated with maternally induced life history phenotypes, and (3) the evolutionary implications of maternally mediated changes in phenotype.…”