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Riyahi S, Vilatersana R, Schrey AW, Ghorbani Node H, Aliabadian M, Senar JC. Natural epigenetic variation within and among six subspecies of the house sparrow, Passer domesticus. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2017; 220:4016-4023. [PMID: 28877923 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.169268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2017] [Accepted: 09/01/2017] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Epigenetic modifications can respond rapidly to environmental changes and can shape phenotypic variation in accordance with environmental stimuli. One of the most studied epigenetic marks is DNA methylation. In the present study, we used the methylation-sensitive amplified polymorphism (MSAP) technique to investigate the natural variation in DNA methylation within and among subspecies of the house sparrow, Passer domesticus We focused on five subspecies from the Middle East because they show great variation in many ecological traits and because this region is the probable origin for the house sparrow's commensal relationship with humans. We analysed house sparrows from Spain as an outgroup. The level of variation in DNA methylation was similar among the five house sparrow subspecies from the Middle East despite high phenotypic and environmental variation, but the non-commensal subspecies was differentiated from the other four (commensal) Middle Eastern subspecies. Further, the European subspecies was differentiated from all other subspecies in DNA methylation. Our results indicate that variation in DNA methylation does not strictly follow subspecies designations. We detected a correlation between methylation level and some morphological traits, such as standardized bill length, and we suggest that part of the high morphological variation in the native populations of the house sparrow is influenced by differentially methylated regions in specific loci throughout the genome. We also detected 10 differentially methylated loci among subspecies and three loci that differentiated between commensal or non-commensal status. Therefore, the MSAP technique detected larger scale differences among the European and non-commensal subspecies, but did not detect finer scale differences among the other Middle Eastern subspecies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sepand Riyahi
- Evolutionary and Behavioural Ecology Research Unit, Natural History Museum of Barcelona, Psg. Picasso s/n, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Roser Vilatersana
- Botanic Institute of Barcelona (IBB-CSIC-ICUB), Passeig de Migdia s/n, 08038 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Aaron W Schrey
- Department of Biology, Armstrong State University, Savannah, GA 31419, USA
| | - Hassan Ghorbani Node
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad 9177 9489 74, Iran.,Research Department of Zoological Innovations, Institute of Applied Zoology, Faculty of Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad 9177 9489 74, Iran
| | - Mansour Aliabadian
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad 9177 9489 74, Iran.,Research Department of Zoological Innovations, Institute of Applied Zoology, Faculty of Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad 9177 9489 74, Iran
| | - Juan Carlos Senar
- Evolutionary and Behavioural Ecology Research Unit, Natural History Museum of Barcelona, Psg. Picasso s/n, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
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