Epigenetic effects of environmental chemicals: Insights from zebrafish

Zebrafish have been extensively used for studying vertebrate development and modeling human diseases such as cancer. In the last two decades, they have also emerged as an important model for developmental toxicology research and, more recently, for studying the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD). It is widely recognized that epigenetic mechanisms mediate the persistent effects of exposure to chemicals during sensitive windows of development. There is considerable interest in understanding the epigenetic mechanisms associated with DOHaD using zebrafish as a model system. This review summarizes our current knowledge on the effects of environmental chemicals on DNA methylation, histone modifications and noncoding RNAs in the context of DOHaD, and suggest some key considerations in designing experiments for characterizating the mechanisms of action.