Identification of novel mechanisms to study responses to fresh water in the euryhaline teleost Dicentrarchus labrax

It is crucial to better understand mechanisms and determinants of salinity tolerance in order to evaluate how a freshwater challenge affects natural populations and individual fitness. Salinity acclimation is achieved through plastic responses mediated at genetic and epigenetic levels. We have investigated the role of whole-genome DNA methylation on salinity acclimatory responses in order to understand the interplay between environmentally-induced phenotypic variation and epigenetic mechanisms.