SUPR
EpiTAG/TRANS
Dnr:

NAISS 2024/5-249

Type:

NAISS Medium Compute

Principal Investigator:

Joëlle Rüegg

Affiliation:

Uppsala universitet

Start Date:

2024-05-01

End Date:

2025-05-01

Primary Classification:

10602: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Webpage:

Allocation

Abstract

Epigenetic modifications induced by various environmental stressors are crucial to several biological processes, with significant long-term detrimental effects on human health and ecosystems. The transmission of such epigenetic-induced effects to the succeeding, unexposed generations even without any changes in the DNA is frequently revealed in several experimental studies. While many efforts have been employed at descriptive levels, the molecular mechanisms underlying this transgenerational epigenetic inheritance (TEI) and the resulting adverse outcomes have received far less attention. Bioinformatic analysis can not only delineate novel insights into the epigenetic processes, link to genetic information and phenotypic transgenerational effects but also accelerate the identification of molecular biomarkers of TEI. In this project, we will analyse high-resolution epigenetic data from different generations of chemically exposed and unexposed zebrafish acquired by third generation sequencing (using Oxford Nanopore technology) of both DNA and RNA. This will enable the transformation of the epigenetic landscape to predictive key features that could accurately anticipate mechanism-based transgenerational impacts of environmental stressors (chemicals or other pollutants). This, in turn, will provide valuable information aiding in making decisions that would spear the future generations from potential environmental and health concerns induced by these stressors.