Dafni Anastasiadi
e-mail: dafni.anastasiadi@plantandfood.co.nz
Supervisors: Maren Wellenreuther, Louis Bernatchez (University of Laval, Canada)
Funding: Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Grant
Beyond DNA: testing the role of epigenetics in thermal adaptation
How species adapt to new environments remains an open question in evolutionary biology. The epigenetic mechanisms, including DNA methylation, may facilitate adaptation. Indeed, epigenetics offer a way of persistently integrating environment information and passing it throughout generations. Thus, environmentally-induced phenotypes mediated by epigenetic mechanisms may serve as a buffer in changing environments and may be adaptive as a first substrate for selection. Still, the actual role of epigenetics in an evolutionary context remains unresolved, since it is still mostly supported in theoretical and not experimental grounds.
My work until now, including my PhD, has focused on the role of epigenetics in the emergence of the phenotype. I have studied the effects of intrinsic factors, like ageing and sex, or environmental factors, like temperature and the farming environment, on the DNA methylation and gene expression patterns of a non-model marine fish, the European sea bass. My research has focused on the DNA methylation patterns during the lifetime of an individual, within the same generation, that can be persistent.
My postdoc research (started July 2019) aims to answer the question: what is actually the contribution of epigenetic variation to local adaptation? To do this, I am using a non-model marine fish, the New Zealand snapper (I am based in Nelson, New Zealand), and both field data and replicated experiments. First, I will compare the genomic vs epigenomic variation across two thermal gradients. Second, I will test whether epigenetic modifications induced by exposure to different thermal environments are passed from parents to offspring and affect progeny fitness. Third, I will test the hypothesis that inherited epigenetic variation affects survival. The results of this research will contribute to the debate of integrating epigenetic to a more complex theory of evolution, as well as to improve the predictions of species’ responses to rapid climate change.
https://www.plantandfood.com/en-nz/article/epigenetic-inheritance-and-reproductive-mode-in-plants-and-animals
