Gasterosteus aculeatus Epigenomics

The goal of this study was to examine the effects of sex and enviornmental salinity on whole genome DNA methylation in Gasterosteus aculeatus. Gasterosteus aculeatus is a species with evolutionarily “young” heteromorphic sex chromosomes, and a model system for investigating ecological speciation. Very little is known about the role of DNA methylation in the evolution of heteromorphic sex chromosomes and how organisms respond to different environments. These data highlight the multiple evolutionary roles of changes in DNA methylation patterns.