Researchers led by scientist from the University of Adelaide reported that epigenetic is the key to animal adaptation and survival in periods of extreme climate change at the Public Library of Science web site on January 31, 2012.
Genetic modifications that turn genes on and off without modifying DNA were found to be the key to survival in bovine animals.
Comparison of 30,000 year old bison bones from Canada, a 30-year-old mummified cow from New Zealand, and modern day cattle led researchers to a better understanding of how animals adapt to extreme and rapid climate changes like the global warming events that are occurring today.
The researchers can now predict what changes a specific group of animals may adopt to compensate for climate change provided that ancient and modern DNA samples can be obtained. The scientists further propose that epigenetics has played a larger role in evolution than previously known.
Project leader Professor Alan Cooper, Director of the University of Adelaide's Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD)and Dr Catherine Suter, from the Victor Chang Institute led the rsearch.
Paper
High-Resolution Analysis of Cytosine Methylation in Ancient DNA
Authors
Bastien Llamas1,2#, Michelle L. Holland3#¤, Kefei Chen1#, Jennifer E. Cropley3,4, Alan Cooper1*, Catherine M. Suter3,4*
1 Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, 2 Department of Ophthalmology, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia, Australia, 3 Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia, 4 Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Abstract
Epigenetic changes to gene expression can result in heritable phenotypic characteristics that are not encoded in the DNA itself, but rather by biochemical modifications to the DNA or associated chromatin proteins. Interposed between genes and environment, these epigenetic modifications can be influenced by environmental factors to affect phenotype for multiple generations. This raises the possibility that epigenetic states provide a substrate for natural selection, with the potential to participate in the rapid adaptation of species to changes in environment. Any direct test of this hypothesis would require the ability to measure epigenetic states over evolutionary timescales. Here we describe the first single-base resolution of cytosine methylation patterns in an ancient mammalian genome, by bisulphite allelic sequencing of loci from late Pleistocene Bison priscus remains. Retrotransposons and the differentially methylated regions of imprinted loci displayed methylation patterns identical to those derived from fresh bovine tissue, indicating that methylation patterns are preserved in the ancient DNA. Our findings establish the biochemical stability of methylated cytosines over extensive time frames, and provide the first direct evidence that cytosine methylation patterns are retained in DNA from ancient specimens. The ability to resolve cytosine methylation in ancient DNA provides a powerful means to study the role of epigenetics in evolution
Citation: Llamas B, Holland ML, Chen K, Cropley JE, Cooper A, et al. (2012) High-Resolution Analysis of Cytosine Methylation in Ancient DNA. PLoS ONE 7(1): e30226. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0030226
The research was reviewed at the Eureka Alert web site on January 31, 2011.
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