TY - JOUR
T1 - DNA methylation regulates transcriptional homeostasis of algal endosymbiosis in the coral model Aiptasia
AU - Li, Yong
AU - Liew, Yi Jin
AU - Cui, Guoxin
AU - Cziesielski, Maha Joana
AU - Zahran, Noura Ibrahim Omar
AU - Michell, Craig
AU - Voolstra, Christian R.
AU - Aranda, Manuel
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-02-19
Acknowledgements: Acknowledgments: We thank J. Pringle for the provision of the initial Aiptasia CC7 and Symbiodinium SSB01 cultures. We thank S. Baumgarten for his help with establishing the Aiptasia cultures and critical reading of the manuscript. We also thank the four anonymous reviewers for their effort and valuable suggestions, which greatly improved this study. Funding: Research reported in this publication was supported by baseline funding from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology to M.A.
PY - 2018/8/15
Y1 - 2018/8/15
N2 - The symbiotic relationship between cnidarians and dinoflagellates is the cornerstone of coral reef ecosystems. Although research has focused on the molecular mechanisms underlying this symbiosis, the role of epigenetic mechanisms, that is, the study of heritable changes that do not involve changes in the DNA sequence, is unknown. To assess the role of DNA methylation in the cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis, we analyzed genome-wide CpG methylation, histone associations, and transcriptomic states of symbiotic and aposymbiotic anemones in the model system Aiptasia. We found that methylated genes are marked by histone 3 lysine 36 trimethylation (H3K36me3) and show significant reduction of spurious transcription and transcriptional noise, revealing a role of DNA methylation in the maintenance of transcriptional homeostasis. Changes in DNA methylation and expression show enrichment for symbiosis-related processes, such as immunity, apoptosis, phagocytosis recognition, and phagosome formation, and reveal intricate interactions between the underlying pathways. Our results demonstrate that DNA methylation provides an epigenetic mechanism of transcriptional homeostasis that responds to symbiosis.
AB - The symbiotic relationship between cnidarians and dinoflagellates is the cornerstone of coral reef ecosystems. Although research has focused on the molecular mechanisms underlying this symbiosis, the role of epigenetic mechanisms, that is, the study of heritable changes that do not involve changes in the DNA sequence, is unknown. To assess the role of DNA methylation in the cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis, we analyzed genome-wide CpG methylation, histone associations, and transcriptomic states of symbiotic and aposymbiotic anemones in the model system Aiptasia. We found that methylated genes are marked by histone 3 lysine 36 trimethylation (H3K36me3) and show significant reduction of spurious transcription and transcriptional noise, revealing a role of DNA methylation in the maintenance of transcriptional homeostasis. Changes in DNA methylation and expression show enrichment for symbiosis-related processes, such as immunity, apoptosis, phagocytosis recognition, and phagosome formation, and reveal intricate interactions between the underlying pathways. Our results demonstrate that DNA methylation provides an epigenetic mechanism of transcriptional homeostasis that responds to symbiosis.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/628481
UR - http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/8/eaat2142
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85052202995&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1126/sciadv.aat2142
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.aat2142
M3 - Article
C2 - 30116782
AN - SCOPUS:85052202995
VL - 4
SP - eaat2142
JO - Science Advances
JF - Science Advances
SN - 2375-2548
IS - 8
ER -