Examining the Effects of Environment, Geography, and Elevation on Patterns of DNA Methylation Across Populations of Two Widespread Bumble Bee Species

Understanding the myriad avenues through which spatial and environmental factors shape evolution is a major focus in biological research. From a molecular perspective, much work has been focused on genomic sequence variation; however, recently there has been increased interest in how epigenetic variation may be shaped by different variables across the landscape. DNA methylation has been of particular interest given that it is dynamic and can alter gene expression, potentially offering a path for a rapid response to environmental change. We utilized whole genome enzymatic methyl sequencing to evaluate the distribution of CpG methylation across the genome and to analyze patterns of spatial and environmental association in the methylomes of two broadly distributed montane bumble bees (Bombus vancouverensis Cresson and Bombus vosnesenskii Radoszkowski) across elevational gradients in the western US. Methylation patterns in both species are similar at the genomic scale with ∼1% of CpGs being methylated and most methylation being found in exons. At the landscape scale, neither species exhibited strong spatial or population structuring in patterns of methylation, although some weak relationships between methylation and distance or environmental variables were detected. Differential methylation analysis suggests a stronger environment association in B. vancouverensis given the larger number of differentially methylated CpG’s compared to B. vosnesenskii. We also observed only a handful of genes with both differentially methylated CpGs and previously detected environmentally associated outlier SNPs. Overall results reveal a weak but present pattern in variation in methylation over the landscape in both species.