Convergent evolution of a vertebrate-like methylome in a marine sponge

Alex de Mendoza*, William L. Hatleberg, Kevin Pang, Sven Leininger, Ozren Bogdanovic, Jahnvi Pflueger, Sam Buckberry, Ulrich Technau, Andreas Hejnol, Maja Adamska, Bernard M. Degnan, Sandie M. Degnan, Ryan Lister

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    45 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Vertebrates have highly methylated genomes at CpG positions, whereas invertebrates have sparsely methylated genomes. This increase in methylation content is considered a major regulatory innovation of vertebrate genomes. However, here we report that a sponge, proposed as the potential sister group to the rest of animals, has a highly methylated genome. Despite major differences in genome size and architecture, we find similarities between the independent acquisitions of the hypermethylated state. Both lineages show genome-wide CpG depletion, conserved strong transcription factor methyl-sensitivity and developmental methylation dynamics at 5-hydroxymethylcytosine enriched regions. Together, our findings trace back patterns associated with DNA methylation in vertebrates to the early steps of animal evolution. Thus, the sponge methylome challenges previous hypotheses concerning the uniqueness of vertebrate genome hypermethylation and its implications for regulatory complexity.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1464-1473
    Number of pages10
    JournalNature Ecology and Evolution
    Volume3
    Issue number10
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2019

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