Transgenerational differences in gut microbiota population and epigenetic responses of host intestinal epithelial cells
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Elissa Guzman (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Ramji Bhandari
Abstract: The Intestinal microbiome plays a critical role in the health of their host organism. While intestinal microbiome composition is typically inherited vertically from parent to offspring or from the environment at birth, composition of the microbiota can be modulated by intestinal epithelial cells via expression of key regulatory genes. Endocrine disrupting chemicals found as pollutants in the environment may thus perturb composition of the intestinal microbiome via alternation of the interactions between host gene expression and microbiota. Bisphenol-A, a ubiquitous endocrine disrupting pollutant, has previously been shown to induce microbial dysbiosis via direct exposure; however, research on its transgenerational effects is limited. In this study, developing medaka embryos were continuously exposed to bisphenol A (BPA, 10 ug /L) from 8 hours post-fertilization to 12 days post-fertilization stages and never thereafter. They were allowed to grow in water without chemical exposure for the rest of their life and spawn for three generations. An aseptic condition was maintained during the exposure period to avoid colonization of environmental microbes in the intestine. Whole gut samples were collected from the fish in F0 (grandparents) and F2 (grandchildren) generation. DNA from the water samples were collected at the time of sampling to determine environmental microbiota population. Alterations in the host intestinal epigenome and transcriptome as well as detrimental morphological changes in the intestine were observed in the grandchildren. A dysbiosis of the gut microbiome was found in the medaka fish whose grandparents were developmentally exposed to BPA. BPA exposure was associated with decreased number of overall Operational Taxonomical Units (OTUS) in F2 intestine. A decrease in commensal genus Vibrio and a higher abundance of pathogenic Aeromonas and Shewanella was observed. Presence of genera typically absent in medaka gut microbiome, such as Acidovorax, was also observed in the BPA lineage fish.
Transgenerational differences in gut microbiota population and epigenetic responses of host intestinal epithelial cells
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Created on 8/1/2021
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- Language: English
- Date: 2021
- Keywords
- Epigenetics, Medaka, Microbiome, Transgenerational
- Subjects
- Bisphenols $x Physiological effect
- Epithelial cells $x Genetic aspects
- Intestines $x Microbiology
- Oryzias latipe