Programme for British Andrology Society Annual Meeting - Epiconcept

130 Pages·2013·1.66 MB·English

by  Dr Sheena Lewis

Epigenetics and
Periconception Environment

st
Proceeding of the 1 General Meeting
of EPICONCEPT, Antalya, Turkey
th th
24 - 25 April 2013

Editors:
Ann van Soom, Alireza Fazeli
and Mehmet Kuran
Cover Picture: Aspendos Antique Theatre, Antalya
EPICONCEPT 1st Annual Meeting 2
CONTENTS PAGE

Page Description

4 COST

5 Welcome from Epiconcept Chairman

6 Welcome from the local organisers

7-12 Programme

13-36 Speaker Abstracts

37-42 Poster Presentation Index

43-122 Poster Presentations from Abstracts

123-128 Delegate List

129 Meeting Sponsors

EPICONCEPT 1st Annual Meeting 3
EUROPEAN CO-OPERATION IN SCIENCE &
TECHNOLOGY (COST)

COST - the acronym for European Cooperation in Science and Technology- is the oldest and
widest European intergovernmental network for cooperation in research. Established by the
Ministerial Conference in November 1971, COST is presently used by the scientific
communities of 35 European countries to cooperate in common research projects supported
by national funds. The funds provided by COST - less than 1% of the total value of the
projects - support the COST cooperation networks (COST Actions) through which, with EUR
30 million per year, more than 30 000 European scientists are involved in research having a
total value which exceeds EUR 2 billion per year. This is the financial worth of the European
added value which COST achieves. A "bottom up approach" (the initiative of launching a
COST Action comes from the European scientists themselves), "à la carte participation" (only
countries interested in the Action participate), "equality of access" (participation is open also
to the scientific communities of countries not belonging to the European Union) and "flexible
structure" (easy implementation and light management of the research initiatives) are the
main characteristics of COST. As precursor of advanced multidisciplinary research COST
has a very important role for the realisation of the European Research Area (ERA)
anticipating and complementing the activities of the Framework Programmes, constituting a
"bridge" towards the scientific communities of emerging countries, increasing the mobility of
researchers across Europe and fostering the establishment of "Networks of Excellence" in
many key scientific domains such as: Biomedicine and Molecular Biosciences; Food and
Agriculture; Forests, their Products and Services; Materials, Physical and Nanosciences;
Chemistry and Molecular Sciences and Technologies; Earth System Science and
Environmental Management; Information and Communication Technologies; Transport and
Urban Development; Individuals, Societies, Cultures and Health. It covers basic and more
applied research and also addresses issues of pre-normative nature or of societal
importance.

Web: www.cost.esf.org

EPICONCEPT 1st Annual Meeting 4
ST
WELCOME TO THE 1 ANNUAL

MEETING OF EPICONCEPT

Message from the Chairman

Dear members of Epiconcept,

Antalya still seems far away when I am writing these words, with a frosty Belgian spring night
ahead. However, at the time when you are reading this welcome, we will surely be enjoying
the sun, the blue sky and sea, and the Turkish hospitality and great food!

This will be the first annual meeting of Epiconcept: we have managed to put together an
attractive program with excellent speakers from many COST countries and a few non-COST
countries. This conference and the future meetings will have one common focus – the
influence that the periconception environment can have on food producing animals such as
livestock, poultry and fish, by epigenetic mechanisms. We all learnt in highschool that the
phenotype of animals is made up by the genotype and the environment. In recent years, this
environmental effect has been termed epigenetics. We also know now that parental stress
before, during and after conception (i.e. the periconception period) induces epigenetic
changes in gametes and embryos. Such epigenetic changes may adversely affect the future
health, development, productivity and fertility of those offspring.

Our main purpose here is to bring together young and not-so-young scientists to discuss
which epigenomic tools can be used to visualize epigenetic changes, to define the optimal
periconception environment and to identify possible epigenetic stressors, and to learn from
different model species. Last but not least, we will also learn how to communicate our
findings to our colleagues, to the lay public and to animal breeders and companies involved
in feed production and development of media or pharmaceuticals.

I do hope this first meeting will be the start of many collaborations in the field, and that we will
all learn much more about the fascinating topic that epigenetics is. Many questions still
remain – maybe a few can be solved already during this meeting.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mehmet Kuran and all the other members of
the local organizing committee for the enormous effort they have done in organizing this
conference at this top location. Also many thanks to Sara Gottliebsen and Laszlo Tecsi for
their invaluable assistance in the administration, in keeping us to the deadlines and putting
together this abstract book. Thank you Alireza, for your help and advice with small problems
and financial issues. I gratefully acknowledge all members of the Executive Committee for
their input in composing the program.

Welcome to Antalya!

Prof Ann Van Soom
EPICONCEPT Chairman
April 2013
EPICONCEPT 1st Annual Meeting 5
WELCOME TO ANTALYA

When the MC members of this COST Action FA1201 received an email from Ann Van Soom
in August 2012 regarding to the agenda for the kick-off meeting in Brussels, we were
informed that one of the issues for discussion was the place of the first annual meeting.
Additional information was given that the meeting place in mind should be a southern country
taking the sun, sand and sea approach initiated by the previous GEMINI Cost Action. Such a
description of a meeting place alerted me automatically to propose the city of Antalya for the
first annual meeting of Epiconcept.

During the kick-off meeting MC members approved the proposal, that the first meeting to be
held from 24th to 26th April 2013 in Antalya, should be the Turkish Riviera, which is the most
stunning part of Turkey's Mediterranean coast on the south part of Turkey. The city is well
known with its beaches, holiday resorts, mild and sunny weather. It was the world's third
most visited city by number of international arrivals in 2011. The city has also magnificent
historical places dating back upto pre-historical times.

This meeting is being organized by Faculty of Agriculture, Ondokuz Mayis University,
Samsun, which is on the coast of Black Sea on the north of Turkey. The conference venue
will be at the Sueno Hotel in Side, Antalya. The Hotel is a 5-star comfortable hotel and has its
own beach at the mediterranean coast.

On behalf of the Local Organising Committee, I wish to thank the speakers in the main
sessions and oral presentations, and their co-authors, authors of the abstracts, delegates,
and the sponsors for their valuable support towards organizing this scientific meeting. I would
like to thank Sara Gottliebsen and Laszlo Tecsi for their excellent assistance in the
administration at every step for the preparation of this meeting. Special thanks should also
be given to Alireza Fazeli and Ann Van Soom for their continuous guidance. Without their
experience and advice I know that making this meeting a success would have been
impossible.

It gives me great pleasure to invite you to the first annual meeting of Epiconcept. I hope this
conference will be the venue for young and not-so-young scientists from 25 European
countries and 4 non-European countries to meet and initiate fruitful collaborations on
epigenetics and periconception environment.

See you in Antalya!

Mehmet Kuran
Chair Local Conference Organising Committee

EPICONCEPT 1st Annual Meeting 6
ST
1 ANNUAL EPICONCEPT CONFERENCE

ANTALYA, TURKEY

24 – 25 April 2013

Epigenetics and Periconception Environment

Programme

Tuesday 23 April 2013

17:00-19:00 Registration

19:00-21:00 Dinner

21:00-23:00 Reception

Wednesday 24 April 2013

08:00-12:45 Registration

Conference Opening

08:30-08:35 Conference Opening by Chairman
Ann Van Soom, University of Ghent, Belgium

08:35‐08:45 Conference Opening by Local Organiser
Mehmet Kuran, Ondokuz Mayis University, Turkey

Workshop by WG 1: Our epigenomic Toolbox

08:45‐09:20 The establishment of the maternal and paternal imprints during
gametogenesis, post-fertilization demethylation and embryo
development
Colum Walsh, University of Ulster, United Kingdom

09:20‐09:45 Incorporation of epigenetic information in the phenotype
decomposition of traditional models
Mario Fraga, Instituto Universitario de Oncologia del Principado de
Asturias, Spain

09:45‐10:10 Bioinformatic analysis: project design and interpretation
Eric Bongcam-Rudloff, Uppsala University, Sweden

EPICONCEPT 1st Annual Meeting 7
10:10-10:30 Embryonic Microenvironment and their Impacts; A Study Into the
Methylome and Transcriptome of Bovine Blastocysts Using
Dedicated Microarray Based Platforms
Claude Robert, Université Laval, Québec, Canada

10:30-11:00 Coffee Break

Workshop by WG 2: Epigenetic modulators at work in the Periconception
Environment in rodent models

11:00-11:35 Genome-wide profiling provides new insights into the DNA
methylation landscape of oocytes
Gavin Kelsey, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

11:35‐12:00 Preimplantation programming of birth weight variability in
genetically identical mice
Alfonso Gutierrez-Adan, INIA, Spain

12:00‐12:25 Maternal control of genomic imprint maintenance
Melissa Mann, University of Ontario, Canada

12:25‐12:45 Epigenetic marks and nuclear reprogramming in early embryos:
short and long term effects
Nathalie Beaujean, INRA, France

12:45‐14:15 Lunch (for Registered Participants)

Dedicated afternoon session for the ESR

14:15‐15:15 ESR Session (WG1 & WG2)

14:15-14:27 Stimulation of chicken embryo - positive impact on adult
phenotype
Maria Siwek University of Technology and Life Sciences, Poland

14:27-14:39 Investigation of inter-individual epigenetic variability in bovine
clones: a high throughput study
Helene Kiefer, INRA, France

14:39-14:51 Paternal low protein diet affects offspring cardiovascular and
metabolic phenotype through sperm and seminal plasma mediated
mechanisms in mice
Adam Watkins, University of Nottingham, UK

14:51-15:03 Stability of Bovine DNA methylation imprints: from the oocyte to
preimplantation embryo
Alan O’Doherty, University College Dublin, Ireland

EPICONCEPT 1st Annual Meeting 8
15:03-15:15 High Oxygen Tension Alters DNA Methylation Levels of Bovine in
vitro Preimplantation Embryos
Wenwen Li, Ghent University, Belgium

15:15-16:45 Poster session and Afternoon Tea

16:45-17:15 Discussion (WG 1-2)
Working Group Chairs to chair the session

17:15-18:00 Your Views on Running our COST Action
Ann Van Soom, University of Ghent, Belgium
Alireza Fazeli, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom

19:00-22:00 Dinner (for Registered Participants)

EPICONCEPT 1st Annual Meeting 9
Thursday 25 April 2013

8:30-9:30 Grant Applications under the Current Climate of the European
Union
Alireza Fazeli, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom

Workshop by WG 3: Cross-species epigenetics, gametogenesis and
embryogenesis

09:30-10:00 Long-lasting consequences of early environment influences in fish
Francesc Piferrer, Institute of Marine Sciences, CSIC, Barcelona,
Spain

10:00-10:30 Periconceptional environment in the mouse and developmental
programming
Tom Fleming, University of Southampton, United Kingdom

10:30-11:00 Coffee break

11:00-11:30 Epigenetics and long-term effects of embryonic environment in
avian species
Anne Collin, INRA, France

11:30-12:00 Plasticity of gene regulation supported the induced adaptation of
yeast cells
Lior David, Dept. of Animal Sciences, The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel

Workshop by WG 4: Science, Scientists and the Public

12:00-12:30 How to take your research to non-scientists: Tips and techniques
Frank Burnet, University of Bristol

12:30-13:30 Lunch (for registered participants)

13:30-15:00 Interactive workshop for ESR Transforming a scientific result into
practice? Chaired by Frank Burnett

Dedicated afternoon session for the ESR

15:00‐16:00 ESR Session (WG3 & WG4)

15:00-15:12 Glucose - a critical determinant of fatty acid metabolism in rabbit
preimplantation embryos
Maria Schindler, Department Anatomy and Cell Biology MLU Halle,
Germany
EPICONCEPT 1st Annual Meeting 10