Meeting Abstract

S2-1.2  Friday, Jan. 4  Ecological Epigenetics: Beyond MS-AFLP SCHREY, Aaron*; ALVAREZ, Mariano ; FOUST, Christy; KILVITIS, Holly; LIEBL, Andrea; MARTIN, Lynn B.; RICHARDS, Christina; ROBERTSON, Marta; Armstrong Atlantic State Univ.; Univ. S. Florida; Univ. S. Florida; Univ. S. Florida; Univ. S. Florida; Univ. S. Florida; Univ. S. Florida; Univ. S. Florida aaron.schrey@armstrong.edu

Ecological Epigenetics studies the relationship between epigenetic variation and ecologically relevant phenotypic variation. As molecular epigenetic mechanisms often control gene expression, even across generations, they may impact our understanding of many evolutionary processes. We define epigenetics as the study of factors that alter gene expression without changing the DNA sequence. There are several molecular epigenetic mechanisms, but DNA methylation has so far dominated the Ecological Epigenetic literature. We review the molecular techniques used to screen DNA methylation in Ecological Epigenetics, and then focus on the most common technique, MS-AFLP, which is used to identify methylation states at particular restriction sites throughout the genome. We present data from multiple studies across taxa that show the commonalities in molecular methods and the general themes from these results. Next, we identify the characteristics of the studies that provide the greatest inference, and we make specific suggestions for future MS-AFLP work using these exemplary studies as a guide. Then, we review the short-comings of MS-AFLP approaches and suggest other techniques such as bi-sulfite sequencing and microarrays that might address some of these short-comings. Finally, we identify questions that are most compelling and tractable in the short term using available techniques and discuss how future epigenetic approaches will illuminate behavioral ecology, phenotypic plasticity, and short term adaptation.