EPIgenetic Signatures as biomarkers of ecoTOXicological effects

Obiettivo

"The study of emergent pollutants is included in the priority research guidelines of many environmental- and health-regulation
bodies, such as the World Health Organisation, the USA Environmental Protection Agency or the EFSA and ECHA agencies
of the European Commission. In this regard this regulatory bodies have identified substances of very high concern, including
Endocrine Disruptors (EDCs). An emerging concern is related to substances that are able to modify cellular regulatory
mechanisms long after the actual exposure occurred, a long-term effect mediated by chemical chromatin changes and
integrated into the concept of epigenetics. The prevalent hypothesis is to use the ""epigenetic foot-print” as a tool to evaluate
the exposure of a given organism to toxicants, with the ultimate goal of identify determine if epigenetic signatures
characterized after early development exposures are maintained through time once the pollutant exposure ceased, and if
those can cause adverse effects on the exposed animals. In that context the main goal of the present proposal is to identify
epigenetic footprints characteristic of early development exposures to EDCs in zebrafish. This project intends to: 1) To identify common epigenetic markers regulated by EDC exposures during early development; 2) To integrate transcriptomic and epigenetic platforms to identify relevant biological pathways characteristic of EDCs exposures. Results from this study would be very useful to identify target epigenetic biomarkers and develop cost-effective high-throughput methodologies to screen for epigenetic signatures after EDCs exposures."