Multigenerational Mitigating Effects of Ocean Acidification on In Vivo Endpoints, Antioxidant Defense, DNA Damage Response, and Epigenetic Modification in an Asexual Monogonont Rotifer

Abstract

Ocean acidification (OA) is caused by changes in ocean carbon chemistry due to increased atmospheric pCO2 and is predicted to have deleterious effects on marine ecosystems. While the potential impacts of OA on many marine species have been studied, the multi-generational effects on asexual organisms remain unknown. We found that low seawater pH induced oxidative stress and DNA damage, decreasing growth rates, fecundity, and lifespans in the parental generation, whereas deleterious effects on in vivo endpoints in F1 and F2 offspring were less evident. The findings suggest multi-generational adaptive effects play a role in antioxidant abilities and other defenses mechanisms. OA-induced DNA damage, including double-strand breaks (DSBs), was fully repaired in F1 offspring of parents exposed to OA for 7 days, indicating that an adaptation mechanism may be the major driving force behind multi-generational adaptive effects. Analysis of epigenetic modification in response to OA involved examination of histone modification of DNA repair genes and a chromatin immunoprecipitation assay, as B. koreanus has no methylation pattern for CpG in its genome. We conclude that DSBs, DNA repair, and histone modification play important roles in multi-generational plasticity in response to OA in an asexual monogonont rotifer.