Aims: Increasing concentrations of dietary sugar results in a linear accumulation of triglycerides in male Drosophila, while inducing a U-shaped obesity response in their offspring. Here, using a combination of proteomics and small RNA (sRNA) sequencing, we aimed at understanding the molecular underpinning in sperm for such plasticity.Results: Proteomic analysis of seminal vesicles revealed that increasing concentrations of dietary sugar resulted in a bell-shaped induction of proteins involved in metabolic/redox regulation. Using stains and in vivo redox reporter flies, this pattern could be explained by changes in sperm production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), more exactly mitochondria-derived H2O2. By quenching ROS with the antioxidant N-acetyl cysteine and performing sRNA-seq on sperm, we found that sperm miRNA is increased in response to ROS. Moreover, we found sperm mitosRNA to be increased in high-sugar diet conditions (independent of ROS). Reanalyzing our previously published data revealed a similar global upregulation of human sperm mitosRNA in response to a high-sugar diet, suggesting evolutionary conserved mechanisms.Innovation: This work highlights a fast response to dietary sugar in mitochondria-produced H2O2 in Drosophila sperm and identifies redox-sensitive miRNA downstream of this event.Conclusions: Our data support a model where changes in the sperm mitochondria in response to dietary sugar are the primary event, and changes in redox homoeostasis are secondary to mitochondrial ROS production. These data provide multiple candidates for paternal intergenerational metabolic responses as well as potential biomarkers for human male fertility.

Experiencing violence changes behavior, shapes personalities, and poses a risk factor for mental disorders. This association might be mediated through epigenetic modifications that affect gene expression, such as DNA methylation. The present study investigated the impact of community and domestic violence on DNA methylation measured in saliva collected from 375 individuals including three generations: grandmothers (n = 126), mothers (n = 125), and adolescents (n = 124, 53% female). Using the Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip array, in adolescents, we detected two CpG sites that showed an association of DNA methylation and lifetime exposure to community and domestic violence even after FDR correction: BDNF_cg06260077 (logFC -0.454, p = 3.71E-07), and CLPX_cg01908660 (logFC = -0.372, p = 1.38E-07). Differential DNA methylation of the CpG BDNF_cg06260077 associated with exposure to violence was also observed in the maternal but not the grandmaternal generation. BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) and CLPX (caseinolytic mitochondrial matrix peptidase chaperone subunit) genes are involved in neural development. Our results thus reveal altered molecular mechanisms of developmental and intergenerational trajectories in survivors of repeated violent experiences.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common, debilitating condition with limited treatment options. Extinction of fear memories through prolonged exposure therapy, the primary evidence-based behavioral treatment for PTSD, has only partial efficacy. In mice, pharmacological inhibition of fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) produces elevated levels of anandamide (AEA) and promotes fear extinction, suggesting that FAAH inhibitors may aid fear extinction-based treatments. A human FAAH 385C-greater thanA substitution encodes an FAAH enzyme with reduced catabolic efficacy. Individuals homozygous for the FAAH 385A allele may therefore offer a genetic model to evaluate the impact of elevations in AEA signaling in humans, helping to inform whether FAAH inhibitors have the potential to facilitate fear extinction therapy for PTSD. To overcome the challenge posed by low frequency of the AA genotype (appr. 5%), we prospectively genotyped 423 individuals to examine the balanced groups of CC, AC, and AA individuals (n = 25/group). Consistent with its loss-of-function nature, the A allele was dose dependently associated with elevated basal AEA levels, facilitated fear extinction, and enhanced the extinction recall. Moreover, the A-allele homozygotes were protected against stress-induced decreases in AEA and negative emotional consequences of stress. In a humanized mouse model, AA homozygous mice were similarly protected against stress-induced decreases in AEA, both in the periphery, and also in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, brain structures critically involved in fear extinction and regulation of stress responses. Collectively, these data suggest that AEA signaling can temper aspects of the stress response and that FAAH inhibition may aid the treatment for stress-related psychiatric disorders, such as PTSD.

Early stress can have long-lasting phenotypic effects. Previous research shows that male and female chickens differ in many behavioural aspects, and respond differently to chronic stress. The present experiment aimed to broadly characterize long-term sex differences in responses to brief events of stress experienced during the first weeks of life. Chicks from a commercial egg-laying hybrid were exposed to stress by inducing periods of social isolation during their first three weeks of life, followed by a broad behavioural, physiological and genomic characterization throughout life. Early stressed males, but not females, where more anxious in an open field-test, stayed shorter in tonic immobility and tended to have delayed sexual maturity, as shown by a tendency for lower levels of testosterone compared to controls. While early stressed females did not differ from non-stressed in fear and sexual maturation, they were more socially dominant than controls. The differential gene expression profile in hypothalamus was significantly correlated from 28 to 213 days of age in males, but not in females. In conclusion, early stress had a more pronounced long-term effect on male than on female chickens, as evidenced by behavioral, endocrine and genomic responses. This may either be attributed to inherent sex differences due to evolutionary causes, or possibly to different stress related selection pressures on the two sexes during commercial chicken breeding.

Background: Childhood stress leads to increased risk of many adult diseases, such as major depression and cardiovascular disease. Studies show that adults with experienced childhood stress have specific epigenetic changes, but to understand the pathways that lead to disease, we also need to study the epigenetic link prospectively in children. Results: Here, we studied a homogenous group of 48 5-year-old children. By combining hair cortisol measurements (a well-documented biomarker for chronic stress), with whole-genome DNA-methylation sequencing, we show that high cortisol associates with a genome-wide decrease in DNA methylation and targets short interspersed nuclear elements (SINEs; a type of retrotransposon) and genes important for calcium transport: phenomena commonly affected in stress-related diseases and in biological aging. More importantly, we identify a zinc-finger transcription factor, ZNF263, whose binding sites where highly overrepresented in regions experiencing methylation loss. This type of zinc-finger protein has previously shown to be involved in the defense against retrotransposons. Conclusions: Our results show that stress in preschool children leads to changes in DNA methylation similar to those seen in biological aging. We suggest that this may affect future disease susceptibility by alterations in the epigenetic mechanisms that keep retrotransposons dormant. Future treatments for stress-and age-related diseases may therefore seek to target zinc-finger proteins that epigenetically control retrotransposon reactivation, such as ZNF263.

While behavioral sex differences have repeatedly been reported across taxa, the underlying epigenetic mechanisms in thebrain are mostly lacking. Birds have previously shown to have only limited dosage compensation, leading to high sex bias ofZ-chromosome gene expression. In chickens, a male hyper-methylated region (MHM) on the Z-chromosome has beenassociated with a local type of dosage compensation, but a more detailed characterization of the avian methylome islimiting our interpretations. Here we report an analysis of genome wide sex differences in promoter DNA-methylation andgene expression in the brain of three weeks old chickens, and associated sex differences in behavior of Red Junglefowl(ancestor of domestic chickens). Combining DNA-methylation tiling arrays with gene expression microarrays we show that aspecific locus of the MHM region, together with the promoter for the zinc finger RNA binding protein (ZFR) gene onchromosome 1, is strongly associated with sex dimorphism in gene expression. Except for this, we found few differences inpromoter DNA-methylation, even though hundreds of genes were robustly differentially expressed across distantly relatedbreeds. Several of the differentially expressed genes are known to affect behavior, and as suggested from their functionalannotation, we found that female Red Junglefowl are more explorative and fearful in a range of tests performed throughouttheir lives. This paper identifies new sites and, with increased resolution, confirms known sites where DNA-methylationseems to affect sexually dimorphic gene expression, but the general lack of this association is noticeable and strengthensthe view that birds do not have dosage compensation.

Variations in gene expression, mediated by epigenetic mechanisms, may cause broad phenotypic effects in animals. However, it has been debated to what extent expression variation and epigenetic modifications, such as patterns of DNA methylation, are transferred across generations, and therefore it is uncertain what role epigenetic variation may play in adaptation. Here, we show that in Red Junglefowl, ancestor of domestic chickens, gene expression and methylation profiles in thalamus/hypothalamus differ substantially from that of a domesticated egg laying breed. Expression as well as methylation differences are largely maintained in the offspring, demonstrating reliable inheritance of epigenetic variation. Some of the inherited methylation differences are tissue-specific, and the differential methylation at specific loci are little changed after eight generations of intercrossing between Red Junglefowl and domesticated laying hens. There was an over-representation of differentially expressed and methylated genes in selective sweep regions associated with chicken domestication. Hence, our results show that epigenetic variation is inherited in chickens, and we suggest that selection of favourable epigenomes, either by selection of genotypes affecting epigenetic states, or by selection of methylation states which are inherited independently of sequence differences, may have been an important aspect of chicken domestication.

Stress during early life can profoundly influence an individual’s phenotype. Effects can manifest in the short-term as well as later in life and even in subsequent generations. Transgenerational effects of stress are potentially mediated via modulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) as well as epigenetic mechanisms causing heritable changes in gene expression. To investigate these pathways we subjected domestic chicks (Gallus gallus) to intermittent social isolation, food restriction, and temperature stress for the first three weeks of life. The early life stress resulted in a dampened corticosterone response to restraint stress in the parents and male offspring. Stress-specific genes, such as early growth response 1 (EGR1) and corticotropin releasing hormone receptor 1 (CRHR1), were upregulated when chicks were tested in the context of restraint stress, but not under baseline conditions. Treatment differences in gene expression were also correlated across generations which indicate transgenerational epigenetic inheritance, possibly mediated by differences in maternal yolk estradiol and testosterone. In an associative learning test early stressed birds made more correct choices suggesting a higher coping ability in stressful situations. This study is the first to show transgenerational effects of early life stress in a precocial species by combining behavioural, endocrinological, and transcriptomic measurements.

Phenotypic variation within populations is a crucial factor in evolution and is mainly thought to be driven by heritable changes in the base sequence of DNA. Among our domesticated species we find some of the most variable species on earth today. This variety of breeds has appeared during a relatively short evolutionary time, and so far genetic studies have been unable to explain but a small portion of this variation, which indicates more novel mechanisms of inheritance and phenotypic plasticity. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate some of these alternative routes in the chicken, especially focusing on transgenerational effects of environmental challenges on behaviour and gene expression in relation to domestication. In two experiments a chronically unpredictable environment induced phenotypic changes in the parents that were mirrored in the unexposed offspring raised without parental contact. This transmission was especially clear in domesticated birds. A third experiment showed that repeated stress events very early in life could change the developmental program making the birds more resistant to stress later in life. Here, the phenotypic changes were also mirrored in the unexposed offspring and associated with inheritance of gene expression. Epigenetic factors, such as DNA-methylation, could play an important role in the mechanism of these transgenerational effects. A fourth experiment showed that wild types and domesticated chickens differed substantially in their patterns of DNA-methylation, where the domesticated breed had increased amount of promoter DNA-methylation. In line with the previous experiments, this breed also showed increased transmission of methylation marks to their  offspring. Conclusively, parental exposure of environmental challenges that introduce changes in behaviour, physiology and gene expression can under both chronic and temporal conditions be heritably programmed in the parent and transmitted to the unexposed offspring. Since heritable epigenetic variation between wild type and domesticated chickens is stable and numerous, it is possible that selection for favourable epigenomes could add another level to the evolutionary processes and therefore might explain some of the rapid changes in the history of the domesticated chicken. 

The biology of fear is central to animal welfare and hasbeen a major target for selection during domestication.Fear responses were studied in female red junglefowl(RJF), the ancestor of domesticated chickens. A totalof 31 females were tested in a ground predator test,an aerial predator test and a tonic immobility (TI)test, in order to assess their level of fearfulnessacross different situations. Two to six variables fromeach test were entered into a principal component(PC) analysis, which showed one major fearfulnesscomponent (explaining 27% of the variance). Based onthe PC scores, four high- and four low-fearful birds werethen selected for gene expression analysis. From eachof these birds, the midbrain region (including thalamus,hypothalamus, pituitary, mesencephalon, pons, nucleustractus solitarii and medulla oblongata), was collectedand global gene expression compared between groupsusing a 14k chicken cDNA microarray. There were 13significantly differentially expressed (DE) genes (basedonM > 1 andB > 0; FDR-adjusted P < 0.05) between thefearful and non-fearful females. Among the DE genes,we identified the neuroprotein Axin1, two potentialDNA/RNA regulating proteins and a retrotransposontranscript situated in a well-studied quantitative traitloci (QTL) region on chromosome 1, known to affectseveral domestication-related traits. The differentiallyexpressed genes may be part of a possible molecularmechanism controlling fear responses in fowl.