The emerging discipline of marine epigenetics. Examples on fisheries and aquaculture management and on climate change assessments in benthic and ichthyic communities
“Put epigenetics into your [scientific] life”. This could well summarize the primary objective of this talk: to try to convince marine biologists of all kinds of the advantages that the emerging new discipline of marine epigenetics offers to address a set of timely research topics. It should therefore not come as a surprise the fact that many marine labs are becoming interested in epigenetics. Thus, for example, the vision and mission of the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn has, as one of its research priorities for the years 2015-2025, the integration of epigenetics and ecology to study biological evolution. Epigenetics can be defined as the study of changes in gene expression that are independent on the underlying nucleotide sequence. In the talk, first the basic epigenetic mechanisms will be briefly discussed and then the attention will be placed on how epigenetics can aid in the conservation of renewable marine resources, with specific examples including the development of markers for sex prediction in aquaculture and fish age estimation for fisheries management. Since epigenetics allows organisms to integrate genomic and environmental information, it facilitates phenotypic variation through genotype–environment interactions. Thus, epigenetics is increasingly being recognized as a powerful molecular engine triggering rapid adaptive phenotypic responses to global change. Hence, emerging insights in marine environmental epigenetics can be applied to critical issues such as biomonitoring, harmful algal blooms and biological invasions. The first International Conference on Epigenetics in Marine Biology was held in September 2020 and based on the presentation one could say that this discipline has a bright future. Lots of initiatives are going in epigenetics in microalgae, corals and mollusks and some examples will also be presented
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| Format: | material didáctico biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
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CSIC - Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (ICM)
2020-11-20
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/224011 |
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