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Sperm DNA methylation altered by THC and nicotine: Vulnerability of neurodevelopmental genes with bivalent chromatin.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Schrott, R; Rajavel, M; Acharya, K; Huang, Z; Acharya, C; Hawkey, A; Pippen, E; Lyerly, HK; Levin, ED; Murphy, SK
Published in: Sci Rep
September 29, 2020

Men consume the most nicotine and cannabis products but impacts on sperm epigenetics are poorly characterized. Evidence suggests that preconception exposure to these drugs alters offspring neurodevelopment. Epigenetics may in part facilitate heritability. We therefore compared effects of exposure to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and nicotine on DNA methylation in rat sperm at genes involved in neurodevelopment. Reduced representation bisulfite sequencing data from sperm of rats exposed to THC via oral gavage showed that seven neurodevelopmentally active genes were significantly differentially methylated versus controls. Pyrosequencing data revealed majority overlap in differential methylation in sperm from rats exposed to THC via injection as well as those exposed to nicotine. Neurodevelopmental genes including autism candidates are vulnerable to environmental exposures and common features may mediate this vulnerability. We discovered that autism candidate genes are significantly enriched for bivalent chromatin structure, suggesting this configuration may increase vulnerability of genes in sperm to disrupted methylation.

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Published In

Sci Rep

DOI

EISSN

2045-2322

Publication Date

September 29, 2020

Volume

10

Issue

1

Start / End Page

16022

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Spermatozoa
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Rats
  • Nicotine
  • Male
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
  • Gene Regulatory Networks
  • Epigenesis, Genetic
  • Dronabinol
  • Disease Models, Animal
 

Citation

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Schrott, R., Rajavel, M., Acharya, K., Huang, Z., Acharya, C., Hawkey, A., … Murphy, S. K. (2020). Sperm DNA methylation altered by THC and nicotine: Vulnerability of neurodevelopmental genes with bivalent chromatin. Sci Rep, 10(1), 16022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-72783-0
Schrott, Rose, Maya Rajavel, Kelly Acharya, Zhiqing Huang, Chaitanya Acharya, Andrew Hawkey, Erica Pippen, H Kim Lyerly, Edward D. Levin, and Susan K. Murphy. “Sperm DNA methylation altered by THC and nicotine: Vulnerability of neurodevelopmental genes with bivalent chromatin.Sci Rep 10, no. 1 (September 29, 2020): 16022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-72783-0.
Schrott R, Rajavel M, Acharya K, Huang Z, Acharya C, Hawkey A, et al. Sperm DNA methylation altered by THC and nicotine: Vulnerability of neurodevelopmental genes with bivalent chromatin. Sci Rep. 2020 Sep 29;10(1):16022.
Schrott, Rose, et al. “Sperm DNA methylation altered by THC and nicotine: Vulnerability of neurodevelopmental genes with bivalent chromatin.Sci Rep, vol. 10, no. 1, Sept. 2020, p. 16022. Pubmed, doi:10.1038/s41598-020-72783-0.
Schrott R, Rajavel M, Acharya K, Huang Z, Acharya C, Hawkey A, Pippen E, Lyerly HK, Levin ED, Murphy SK. Sperm DNA methylation altered by THC and nicotine: Vulnerability of neurodevelopmental genes with bivalent chromatin. Sci Rep. 2020 Sep 29;10(1):16022.

Published In

Sci Rep

DOI

EISSN

2045-2322

Publication Date

September 29, 2020

Volume

10

Issue

1

Start / End Page

16022

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Spermatozoa
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Rats
  • Nicotine
  • Male
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
  • Gene Regulatory Networks
  • Epigenesis, Genetic
  • Dronabinol
  • Disease Models, Animal