­­­­­­Widespread conservation and lineage-specific diversification of genome-wide DNA methylation patterns across arthropods

Lewis, S. H., Ross, L., Bain, S. A. , Pahita, E., Smith, S. A., Cordaux, R., Miska, E. A., Lenhard, B., Jiggins, F. M. and Sarkies, P. (2020) ­­­­­­Widespread conservation and lineage-specific diversification of genome-wide DNA methylation patterns across arthropods. PLoS Genetics, 16(6), e1008864. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1008864) (PMID:32584820) (PMCID:PMC7343188)

Abstract

Cytosine methylation is an ancient epigenetic modification yet its function and extent within genomes is highly variable across eukaryotes. In mammals, methylation controls transposable elements and regulates the promoters of genes. In insects, DNA methylation is generally restricted to a small subset of transcribed genes, with both intergenic regions and transposable elements (TEs) depleted of methylation. The evolutionary origin and the function of these methylation patterns are poorly understood. Here we characterise the evolution of DNA methylation across the arthropod phylum. While the common ancestor of the arthropods had low levels of TE methylation and did not methylate promoters, both of these functions have evolved independently in centipedes and mealybugs. In contrast, methylation of the exons of a subset of transcribed genes is ancestral and widely conserved across the phylum, but has been lost in specific lineages. A similar set of genes is methylated in all species that retained exon-enriched methylation. We show that these genes have characteristic patterns of expression correlating to broad transcription initiation sites and well-positioned nucleosomes, providing new insights into potential mechanisms driving methylation patterns over hundreds of millions of years.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This research was funded by the Medical Research Council (grant to PS) and the Leverhulme Trust (grant to FMJ and PS).BL was supported by Medical Research Council UK (award MC_UP_1102/1) and Wellcome Trust Investigator Award 106954/Z/15/Z. LR was supported by a NERC fellowship (NE/K009516/1) and the Royal Society (RG160842).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Bain, Dr Stevie

Creator Roles

Bain, S. A.: Investigation

• Authors: Lewis, S. H., Ross, L., Bain, S. A., Pahita, E., Smith, S. A., Cordaux, R., Miska, E. A., Lenhard, B., Jiggins, F. M., and Sarkies, P.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Life Sciences
• Journal Name: PLoS Genetics
• Publisher: Public Library of Science
• ISSN: 1553-7390
• ISSN (Online): 1553-7404
• Published Online: 25 June 2020
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2020 Lewis et al.
• First Published: First published in PLoS Genetics 16(6): e1008864
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License
• Data DOI: 10.17863/CAM.45964