Abstract
Intergenerational effects from fathers to offspring are increasingly reported in diverse organisms, but the underlying mechanisms are often unknown. Paternal trans-generational immune priming (TGIP) was demonstrated in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum: non-infectious bacterial exposure (priming) of fathers protects their offspring against an infectious challenge for at least two generations. Here we studied a potential role of the Dnmt2 gene (renamed as Trdmt1 in humans), which encodes a highly conserved enzyme that methylates specific cytosines of a set of tRNAs and has previously been reported to be involved in intergenerational epigenetic inheritance in mice. We first studied gene expression and found that Dnmt2 was expressed throughout life, with high expression in testes. Knockdown of Dnmt2 in fathers slowed down offspring larval development and increased mortality of the adult offspring upon bacterial infection. However, the observed effects were independent of the paternal priming treatment. In conclusion, our results point towards a role of Dnmt2 for paternal effects, while elucidation of the mechanisms behind paternal immune priming needs further studies.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
