DNA methylation reprogramming, TE derepression, and postzygotic isolation of nascent animal species

The genomic shock hypothesis stipulates that the stress associated with divergent genome admixture can cause transposable element (TE) derepression, which could act as a postzygotic isolation mechanism. TEs affect gene structure, expression patterns, and chromosome organization and may have deleteri...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science advances 2019-10, Vol.5 (10), p.eaaw1644-eaaw1644
Main Authors: Laporte, M, Le Luyer, J, Rougeux, C, Dion-Côté, A-M, Krick, M, Bernatchez, L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Body Size - genetics
Chimera
DNA Methylation
DNA Transposable Elements
Epigenome
Evolution, Molecular
Evolutionary Biology
Female
Genetics
Male
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
Quebec
Salmonidae - anatomy & histology
Salmonidae - genetics
SciAdv r-articles
Zygote
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Summary:The genomic shock hypothesis stipulates that the stress associated with divergent genome admixture can cause transposable element (TE) derepression, which could act as a postzygotic isolation mechanism. TEs affect gene structure, expression patterns, and chromosome organization and may have deleterious consequences when released. For these reasons, they are silenced by heterochromatin formation, which includes DNA methylation. Here, we show that a significant proportion of TEs are differentially methylated between the "dwarf" (limnetic) and the "normal" (benthic) whitefish, two nascent species that diverged some 15,000 generations ago within the species complex. Moreover, TEs are overrepresented among loci that were demethylated in hybrids, indicative of their transcriptional derepression. These results are consistent with earlier studies in this system that revealed TE transcriptional derepression causes abnormal embryonic development and death of hybrids. Hence, this supports a role of DNA methylation reprogramming and TE derepression in postzygotic isolation of nascent animal species.
ISSN:2375-2548
2375-2548
DOI:10.1126/sciadv.aaw1644