Methylation and gene expression data from: Differential DNA methylation across environments has no effect on gene expression in the eastern oyster

1. It has been hypothesized that environmentally induced changes to gene body methylation could facilitate adaptive transgenerational responses to changing environments.

2. We compared patterns of global gene expression (Tag-seq) and gene body methylation (reduced representation bisulfite sequencing) in 80 eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) from six full-sib families, common gardened for 14 months at two sites in the northern Gulf of Mexico that differed in mean salinity.

3. At the time of sampling, oysters from the two sites differed in mass by 60% and in parasite loads by nearly two orders of magnitude. They also differentially expressed 35% of measured transcripts. However, we observed differential methylation at only 1.4% of potentially methylated loci in comparisons between individuals from these different environments, and little correspondence between differential methylation and differential gene expression.

4. Instead, methylation patterns were largely driven by g...