No evidence for large differences in genomic methylation between wild and hatchery steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Abstract

When salmonid fish that have been raised in hatcheries spawn in the wild, they often produce fewer surviving adult offspring than wild fish. Recent data from steelhead ( Oncorhynchus mykiss ) in the Hood River (Oregon, USA) show that even one or two generations of hatchery culture can result in dramatic declines in fitness. Although intense domestication selection could cause such declines, it is worth considering alternative explanations. One possibility is heritable epigenetic changes induced by the hatchery environment. Here, we show, using methylation-sensitive amplified fragment length polymorphism, that hatchery and wild adult steelhead from the Hood River do not appear to differ substantially in overall levels of genomic methylation. Thus, although altered methylation of specific DNA sites or other epigenetic processes could still be important, the hatchery environment does not appear to cause a global hypo- or hypermethylation of the genome or create a large number of sites that are differentially methylated.