Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2021

Erindi/veggspjald / Talk/poster E19

DNA methylation patterns separate sympatric morphs of Arctic charr

Höfundar / Authors: Sébastien Matlosz (1), Benjamín Sigurgeirsson (1), Arnar Pálsson (1), Sigríður R. Franzdóttir (1), Zophonías O. Jónsson (1)

Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: 1. Háskoli Islands, Líf- og umhverfisvísindadeild

Kynnir / Presenter: Sébastien Matlosz

Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) is a polymorphic cold-water fish species belonging to the Salmonidæ family. In Iceland, Salvelinus alpinus is found in many places, but in Lake Thingvallavatn it displays remarkable morphological variation, in particular in terms of head and trophic apparatus development. Our group has been working on understanding the reasons behind these morphological differences for years, and recently interesting gene expression differences were found between phenotypically different populations. To add a new dimension to the studies of Arctic charr differentiation, the aim of this project was to study DNA methylation differences between the 4 morphs present in Thingvallavatn.: Small Benthic (SB), Large Benthic (LB), Planktivorous (PL) and Piscivorous (PI). DNA methylation between 4 early developmental stages was also investigated. Our results show a clear difference in DNA methylome between time point and between morphs, mainly between the limnetic and benthic ones. qPCR analysis was performed to investigate the expression of genes located close to those differentially methylated regions (DMR) and correlations between methylation and expression were drawn. Surprisingly, DMRs showed an enrichment in functional RNA sequences, mainly tRNA and rRNA which shows a possible methylation-based regulation of those molecules in this model.