Epigenetic potential affects immune gene expression in house sparrows.

Autor:	Hanson HE; University of South Florida, Global Health and Infectious Disease Research, Tampa, FL 33612, USA haleyehanson@gmail.com lbmartin@usf.edu., Zimmer C; University of South Florida, Global Health and Infectious Disease Research, Tampa, FL 33612, USA., Koussayer B; University of South Florida, Global Health and Infectious Disease Research, Tampa, FL 33612, USA., Schrey AW; Georgia Southern University Armstrong Campus, Department of Biology, Savannah, GA 31419, USA., Maddox JD; Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605, USA.; American Public University System, Environmental Sciences, Charles Town, WV 25414, USA.; Universidad Científica del Perú, Laboratorio de Biotecnología y Bioenergética, Iquitos 16007, Perú., Martin LB; University of South Florida, Global Health and Infectious Disease Research, Tampa, FL 33612, USA haleyehanson@gmail.com lbmartin@usf.edu.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	The Journal of experimental biology [J Exp Biol] 2021 Mar 28; Vol. 224 (Pt 6). Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Mar 28.
DOI:	10.1242/jeb.238451
Abstrakt:	Epigenetic mechanisms may play a central role in mediating phenotypic plasticity, especially during range expansions, when populations face a suite of novel environmental conditions. Individuals may differ in their epigenetic potential (EP; their capacity for epigenetic modifications of gene expression), which may affect their ability to colonize new areas. One form of EP, the number of CpG sites, is higher in introduced house sparrows ( Passer domesticus ) than in native birds in the promoter region of a microbial surveillance gene, Toll-like Receptor 4 ( TLR4 ), which may allow invading birds to fine-tune their immune responses to unfamiliar parasites. Here, we compared TLR4 gene expression from whole blood, liver and spleen in house sparrows with different EP, first challenging some birds with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), to increase gene expression by simulating a natural infection. We expected that high EP would predict high inducibility and reversibility of TLR4 expression in the blood of birds treated with LPS, but we did not make directional predictions regarding organs, as we could not repeatedly sample these tissues. We found that EP was predictive of TLR4 expression in all tissues. Birds with high EP expressed more TLR4 in the blood than individuals with low EP, regardless of treatment with LPS. Only females with high EP exhibited reversibility in gene expression. Further, the effect of EP varied between sexes and among tissues. Together, these data support EP as one regulator of TLR4 expression. Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare no competing or financial interests. (© 2021. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.)
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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