Environmental enrichment induces epigenomic and genome organization changes relevant for cognition

Abstract

In early development, the environment triggers mnemonic epigenomic programs resulting in memory and learning experiences to confer cognitive phenotypes into adulthood. To uncover how environmental stimulation impacts the epigenome and genome organization, we used the paradigm of environmental enrichment (EE) in young mice constantly receiving novel stimulation. We profiled epigenome and chromatin architecture in whole cortex and sorted neurons by deep-sequencing techniques. Specifically, we studied chromatin accessibility, gene and protein regulation, and 3D genome conformation, combined with predicted enhancer and chromatin interactions. We identified increased chromatin accessibility, transcription factor binding including CTCF-mediated insulation, differential occupancy of H3K36me3 and H3K79me2, and changes in transcriptional programs required for neuronal development. EE stimuli led to local genome re-organization by inducing increased contacts between chromosomes 7 and 17 (inter-chromosomal). Our findings support the notion that EE-induced learning and memory processes are directly associated with the epigenome and genome organization. ; We acknowledge support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (SAF2011-26216), "Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2017-2021," SEV-2016-0571, the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya and Jerome Lejeune Foundation, Swiss National Science Foundation Fellowship (PBLAP3_136878) and Co-funded by Marie Curie Actions to CNH. Resources for analyses conducted by SE-G were partially supported by the U.S. National Institutes of Mental Health Funds R01MH104341 and R01MH117790 and by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (NFRFE-2018-01305). We acknowledge support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation to the EMBL partnership, Agencia Estatal de Investigaci n (PID2019-110755RB-I00/AEI / 10.13039/501100011033), the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under grant agreement No 848077, Jerôme Lejeune Foundation, NIH (Grant Number: 1R01EB 028159-01), Marató TV3 (#2016/20-30). RP-R resources were supported by R01GM109215. We thank the support of the University of Tübingen for the Open Access Publication Funds contribution.