Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Kusari, Fitore
• O’Doherty, Alan M.
• Hodges, Nikolas J.
• Wojewodzic, Marcin W.

Titel

Bi-directional effects of vitamin B12 and methotrexate on Daphnia magna fitness and genomic methylation

Ist Teil von

• Scientific reports, 2017-09, Vol.7 (1), p.1-9, Article 11872

Ort / Verlag

London: Nature Publishing Group

Erscheinungsjahr

2017

Quelle

Free E-Journal (出版社公開部分のみ）

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Abstract Here we interrogated, using three separate but complementary experimental approaches, the impact of vitamin B 12 availability and methotrexate exposure on Daphnia magna , which we hypothesised should have an opposite effect on One carbon metabolism (OCM). OCM is a vital biological process supporting a variety of physiological processes, including DNA methylation. Contrary to mammalian models, this process remains largely unexplored in invertebrates. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the impact of OCM short-term alteration on the fitness and epigenome of the keystone species, Daphnia . We used maternal age at reproduction, brood size and survival rates in combination with DNA methylation sensitive comet assay to determine the effects of vitamin B 12 or MTX on fitness and the epigenome. Vitamin B 12 had a positive influence on Daphnia fitness and we provide evidence demonstrating that this may be associated with an increased level of genome-wide DNA methylation. Conversely, exposing D. magna to MTX negatively influenced the fitness of the animals and was associated with loss of global DNA methylation, translating in decreased fitness. These results highlight the potential importance of OCM in invertebrates, providing novel evidence supporting a potential role for epigenetic modifications to the genome in D. magna environmental adaptability.