Infections are able to trigger epigenetic modifications; however, epigenetic-mediating infections in the immune system in fish is currently unavailable. Within this purpose, zebrafish were immune-stimulated with three lipopolysaccharides (LPS) during sex differentiation. Methylation patterns of three immune genes were studied by a candidate gene approach together with gene expression analysis, and in adulthood, sex ratios were determined. It was shown that the entrance of LPS was through the gills and accumulated in the pronephros. Significant hypomethylation levels of CASP9 and a significant CpG site for IL1β after Pseudomonas aeruginosa LPS exposure were found. No methylation difference was observed for TNFα. Gene expression and correlation data differed among studied genes. Sex ratios showed a feminization in dose and LPS strain-dependent manner. Here, it is provided epigenetic regulatory mechanisms derived by innate response and the first evidence of possible epigenetic interactions between the immune and reproductive systems.

感染能够触发表观遗传修饰；然而，目前还没有鱼类免疫系统中的表观遗传介导感染。为此目的，斑马鱼在性别分化过程中受到三种脂多糖 (LPS) 的免疫刺激。通过候选基因方法结合基因表达分析研究了三种免疫基因的甲基化模式，并在成年期确定了性别比例。结果表明LPS通过鳃进入前肾。发现铜绿假单胞菌LPS 暴露后CASP9显着低甲基化水平和IL1β显着 CpG 位点。对于TNFα，没有观察到甲基化差异。研究基因之间的基因表达和相关数据不同。性别比例在剂量和 LPS 菌株依赖性方式上表现出女性化。在这里，它提供了由先天反应衍生的表观遗传调控机制，以及免疫和生殖系统之间可能的表观遗传相互作用的第一个证据。