Inbreeding depression and epigenetics
Can DNA methylation buffer against inbreeding depression?
Despite decades of research, we still have little understanding under what circumstances inbreeding depression occurs. Matings between related individuals increases the probability that recessive deleterious mutations are expressed in homozygosity. Interestingly, research from models systems have found a link between inbreeding and DNA methylation, and the potential for inbreeding depression to disappear when methylation gets removed.
Does DNA methylation exacerbate inbreeding depression? Or could DNA methylation buffer against the expression of deleterious mutations?
After establishing a theoretical framework together with my colleague Bernice Sepers, I will test for the relationship between DNA methylation and deleterious mutations in the black grouse study system.