Epigenetic signature of invasiveness: ChIP-seq profiling of H3K4me3 and
H3K27me3 in an invasive insect
Abstract
While it has been suggested that histone modification can facilitate
animal responses to rapidly changing environments, few studies have
profiled whole-genome histone modification patterns in introduced
species, leaving its role in invasiveness unclear. Here, we screen
genome-wide patterns of two important histone modifications,
trimethylated Histone H3 Lysine 4 (H3K4me3) and trimethylated Histone H3
Lysine 27 (H3K27me3), in adult thorax muscles of a notorious invasive
pest, the Oriental fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera:
Tephritidae), using Chromatin Immunoprecipitation with high-throughput
sequencing (ChIP-seq). We identified active, repressed and poised
promoters, featured by the occupancy of H3K4me3, H3K27me3 and bivalent
histone modifications that were respectively annotated with unique genes
key to muscle development and structure maintenance. In addition, we
found H3K27me3 occupied the entire body of genes, with the average
enrichment was almost constant. When comparing to the closely related
indigenous Drosophila species, while we found highly conserved histone
modifications patterns of distribution and function between the two
species, we identified more genes and putative motifs modified by
histone modifications that may regulate insect flight capacity and
invasiveness compared to D. melanogaster. These findings provide the
first evidence of histone modification signature in an invasive species,
and will be useful for future studies of epigenetic regulation of
invasiveness under global climate change.