Global DNA methylation in gonads of adult zebrafish Danio rerio under bisphenol A exposure

•The present study elucidated the effects of BPA on epigenetic modification in zebrafish.•BPA obviously altered the global DNA methylation level of gonads.•The transcripts of dnmts, tets, and gnmt could relate to the global DNA methylation after BPA exposure.

Altered DNA methylation is pervasively associated with changes in gene expression and signal transduction after exposure to a wide range of endocrine disrupting chemicals. As a weak estrogenic chemical, bisphenol A (BPA) has been extensively studied for reproductive toxicity. In order to explore the effects of BPA on epigenetic modification in gonads of zebrafish Danio rerio, we measured the global DNA methylation together with the gene expression of DNA methyltransferase (dnmts), glycine N-methyltransferase (gnmt), and ten-eleven translocation (tets) in gonads of D. rerio under BPA exposure by ELISA and quantitative real-time PCR method, respectively. The global level of DNA methylation was significantly decreased in ovaries after exposed to BPA for 7 days, and testes following 35-day exposure. Moreover, the global level of DNA methylation was also significantly reduced in testes after exposed to 15 μg/L BPA for 7 days. Besides the alteration of the global level of DNA methylation, varying degrees of transcriptional changes of dnmts, gnmt and tets were detected in gonads of D. rerio under BPA exposure. The present study suggested that BPA might cause the global DNA demethylation in gonads of zebrafish by regulating the transcriptional changes of the DNA methylation/demethylation-associated genes (dnmts, gnmt, and tets).