Contrasting effects of acute and chronic stress on the transcriptome, epigenome, and immune response of Atlantic salmon

Uren Webster, Tamsyn, Rodriguez-Barreto, Deiene, Martin, Samuel, Van Oosterhout, Cock, Orozco Ter Wengel, Pablo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7951-4148, Cable, Joanne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8510-7055, Hamilton, Alistair, Garcia de Leaniz, Carlos and Conseuegra, Sofia 2018. Contrasting effects of acute and chronic stress on the transcriptome, epigenome, and immune response of Atlantic salmon. Epigenetics 13 (12) , pp. 1191-1207. 10.1080/15592294.2018.1554520

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Abstract

Stress experienced during early life may have lasting effects on the immune system, with impacts on health and disease dependent on the nature and duration of the stressor. The epigenome is especially sensitive to environmental stimuli during early life and represents a potential mechanism through which stress may cause long-lasting health effects. However, the extent to which the epigenome responds differently to chronic vs acute stressors is unclear, especially for non-mammalian species. We examined the effects of acute stress (cold-shock during embryogenesis) and chronic stress (absence of tank enrichment during larval-stage) on global gene expression (using RNA-seq) and DNA methylation (using RRBS) in the gills of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) four months after hatching. Chronic stress induced pronounced transcriptional differences, while acute stress caused few lasting transcriptional effects. However, both acute and chronic stress caused lasting and contrasting changes in the methylome. Crucially, we found that acute stress enhanced transcriptional immune response to a pathogenic challenge (bacterial lipopolysaccharide, LPS), while chronic stress suppressed it. We identified stress-induced changes in promoter and gene-body methylation that were associated with altered expression for a small proportion of immune-related genes, and evidence of wider epigenetic regulation within signalling pathways involved in immune response. Our results suggest that stress can affect immuno-competence through epigenetic mechanisms, and highlight the markedly different effects of chronic larval and acute embryonic stress. This knowledge could be used to harness the stimulatory effects of acute stress on immunity, paving the way for improved stress and disease management through epigenetic conditioning.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Biosciences
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis: STM, Behavioural Science and Public Health Titles
ISSN:	1559-2294
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	27 November 2018
Date of Acceptance:	26 November 2018
Last Modified:	11 Nov 2023 03:07
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/117116

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