ONE HEALTH Epigenomics Educational Initiative

The mission of the ‘ONE HEALTH Epigenomics Educational Initiative’ (OHEEI) is to educate citizens, land trusts, state and federal regulators, the medical professions and politicians about the adverse health effects to the environment, wildlife, pets and children caused by endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) such as metals, pesticides and the herbicide and antibiotic Glyphosate (RoundUp).

EDCs are increasingly recognized as a contributor of obesity and diabetes, male reproductive disorders, neurobehavioral deficits, congenital malformations, among others. EDC exposures (DDE, Bisphenol A, phtalate) contribute substantially to these conditions at a cost over 150 billion annually (disrupting-chemical-exposure-exceed-150-billion-annually-in-eu). No information is available for Glyphosate, a broad spectrum bactericide, chelator, and the most used herbicide in production of genetically modified (GM) crops such as soybeans and corn, used in aquafeeds.

The OHEEI support basic research associated with projects [mangroveENCODE, shrimpENCODE, fishENCODE, childrenENCODE] that apply the holistic concept of ONE HEALTH to help conserve biodiversity of healthy ecosystems (mangroves wetlands), to maintain healthy animals (fish/shellfish), to protect children’s health (obesity, diabetes, congenital malformations, antibiotic resistance, allergies) long-term.

We will discuss the experimental design proposed by shrimpENCODE researchers to test the hypothesis that Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease (AHPND), also known as Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS), is an epigenetic disease of Litopenaeus vannamei, caused by the interaction of host genome with environmental factors (EDCs in feed and water). AHPND is caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Vp) isolates containing a conjugative plasmid (Genbank accession# KM067908) encoding Pir (Photorhabdus insect related) toxin-like proteins. Pir proteins belong to the delta endotoxin N (N-terminal domain) family, members of which include insecticidal toxins produced by Bacillus species involved in membrane insertion and pore formation. Other virulence-associated proteins share conserved domains with VirB2-VirB11 present in Agrobacterium tumefaciens, involved in type IV DNA secretion systems (T4SS) which mediate the translocation of virulence factors from Gram-negative bacteria into eukaryotic cells. Considering that (a) most of the insecticidal toxins used as biopesticides in agriculture and genetically modified (GM) plants come from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), (b) Photorhabdus Pir protein has homology to Bt Cry toxin used in GM-Bt, (c) Glyphosate-based GM crops are produced with Glyphosate-tolerant EPSPS from Agrobacterium sp. strain CP4, (d) resistance to Glyphosate is associated with amplification of EPSPS containing a MITE transposon, and (e) a mobile/transposable element (TE) from IS903 family is associated with AHPND, it is important to understand both the molecular genetic (receptor-binding, mutations, horizontal gene transfer) and epigenetic (DNA and histone methylation, chromatin modification, non-coding RNA silencing TE transposition) mechanisms involved in susceptibility of L. vannamei to AHPND. More rigorous transgenerational health assessments are needed on the risks to non-target species such as shrimp caused by microbial transgenes and Glyphosate-based GM crops used in aquaculture feeds.