Correction to: Spatial and temporal expression of cytosine-5 DNA methyltransferase and DNA demethylase gene families of the Ricinus communis during seed development and drought stress (original) (raw)
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Plant Growth Regulation, 2017
emphasis in seed maturation stages, showed that all family members varied widely in their expression across tissues suggesting distinct biological roles. In silico promoter analysis revealed several cis acting elements associated with drought responses indicating an epigenetic mechanism of regulation for the drought response by means of a methylation/demethylation switch. Consequent quantitative PCR analysis revealed that although C5-MTase genes were differentially expressed under drought stress, all the demethylase genes analyzed in this study (RcDME, RcDML-3 and RcROS1) were significantly upregulated suggesting finetuning of DNA methylation and demethylation events. The detection and organization of putative transposable elements (ΤΕs) along promoter regions of most of the genes indicates a possible role in transcriptional control. The current results set the foundation for functional studies of the C5-MTase and DNA demethylase gene families in castor plant.
Increase of DNA Methylation at the HvCKX2.1 Promoter by Terminal Drought Stress in Barley
Epigenomes
Terminal drought stress during grain filling is the major abiotic factor that limits crop yield in barley. The mother plant acclimates to the environment and perceives signals that result in a change of the physiological state within the grain and therefore affect the seed development and germination of the next generation. Small regulatory RNAs have been described to be involved in plant drought stress response by suppressing the respective target genes. Based on their origin and function, these small RNAs are classified as micro RNAs (miRNA), short interfering RNAs (siRNA) or heterochromatic small interfering RNA (hc-siRNA). In addition, 24mer sized hc-siRNAs are associated with RNA directed DNA methylation (RdDM) and transcriptional gene silencing (TGS). The analysis of hc-siRNA by small RNA sequencing in barley caryopses after imposition of terminal drought stress allowed the identification of stress specific 24mers. Based on the sequence homology of the siRNAs to the promoter region of CYTOKININ-OXIDASE 2.1 (HvCKX2.1), this putative target gene was selected for further investigation. Terminal drought stress leads to an increased level of DNA methylation at the HvCKX2.1 promoter and the seeds derived from drought stressed plants showed faster shoot emergence. Accumulation of cytokinin ribosides, which are the known substrates of cytokinin-oxidase, can explain the observed phenotype of faster shoot emergence from seeds of drought stressed mother plants. Analysis of transgenic plants with modulated levels of abscisic acid (ABA) in the grain confirmed the ABA/drought stress responsive ProHvCKX2.1 methylation and correlation with shoot emergence speed.
2021
© The Author(s). 2021 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The original article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1186/s43141020-00104-z.
Industrial Crops and Products, 2017
Ricinus communis L. is an important oilseed crop species which is mostly cultivated in Brazil by family farmers in the northeastern semiarid region. This species is renowned by the quality and properties of the oil extracted from its seeds, which can be used for a diverse range of industrial applications. Furthermore, this species is considered to be tolerant to abiotic stresses such as drought stress. The use of post-harvest and pre-germination treatments on mature seeds can enhance their viability and vigor. In this context, the objective of this study was to investigate the effect of osmoconditioning on R. communis L. seed germinability parameters and events related to the reactivation of cell cycle, i.e. tubulin accumulation and microtubular cytoskeleton configurations. Osmoconditioning was applied to both fresh-harvested (FH) and dry seeds (DS), originating fresh-harvested osmoconditioned (FHO) and dry osmoconditioned (DO) seeds. In general, osmoconditioning promoted seed priming by enhancing seed germinability of FHO and DO seeds by means of better germination speed and uniformity, except for a decrease of uniformity in FHO seeds. Immunocytochemical and immunohistochemical analysis revealed an increasing accumulation of tubulin in FHO and DO seeds, followed by the accumulation of tubulin granules in DO seeds. Mitotic microtubules were only visible in FHO and DO seeds after radicle protrusion and, therefore, seed germination occurred solely by cell elongation, whereas FH and DS seeds required cell cycle reactivation and cell proliferation during imbibition, i.e. prior to radicle protrusion or germination per se. The prompt activation of microtubular cytoskeleton synthesis in seeds that were osmoconditioned might be a possible strategy of the species for faster and more uniform and vigorous seed germination and seedling establishment and, therefore, better survival during periods of drought in harsh environments. These findings provide important insights into the mechanism underlying plant adaptation to harsh environmental conditions, which would be very helpful to develop germination and seedling production protocols to obtain faster and more vigorous and uniform germination seedling stand for the sustainable exploitation of R. communis by small family farmers under the typical harsh conditions of the semiarid regions worldwide.
Plant Science, 2018
Highlights We studied the role of DNA methylation in sesame response to two abiotic stresses Opposite DNA methylation patterns are induced by drought and waterlogging Drought and waterlogging trigger contrasting transcript level regulations in sesame High correlation between transcript level regulations and DNA methylation patterns Abstract DNA methylation is a heritable epigenetic mechanism that participates in gene regulation under abiotic stresses in plants. Sesame (Sesamum indicum) is typically considered a droughttolerant crop but highly susceptible to waterlogging, probably because of its origin in Africa or India. Understanding DNA methylation patterns under drought and waterlogging conditions can provide insights into the regulatory mechanisms underlying sesame contrasting responses to these abiotic stresses. We combined Methylation-Sensitive Amplified Polymorphism and transcriptome analyses to profile cytosine methylation patterns, transcript accumulation, and their interplay in drought-tolerant and waterlogging-tolerant sesame genotypes. Drought stress strongly induced de novo methylation (DNM) whereas most of the loci were demethylated (DM) during the recovery phase. In contrast, waterlogging stress decreased the level of methylation but during the recovery phase, both DM and DNM were concomitantly deployed. In both stresses, the levels of the differentially accumulated transcripts (DATs) highly correlated with the methylation patterns. We observed that DM was associated with an increase of DAT levels while DNM was correlated with a decrease of DAT levels. Altogether, sesame has divergent epigenetic programs that respond to drought and waterlogging stresses and an interplay among DNA methylation and transcript accumulation may partly modulate the contrasting responses to these stresses.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), 2023
• The frequency and length of drought periods are increasing in subtropical and temperate regions worldwide. Epigenetic responses to water stress could be key for plant resilience to this largely unpredictable challenge. Experimental DNA demethylation together with application of a stress factor stands as a suitable strategy to uncover the contribution of epigenetics to plant responses to stress. • We analysed leaf cytosine methylation changes in adult plants of the Mediterranean weed, Erodium cicutarium, after seed demethylation with 5-Azacytidine and/or recurrent water stress in a greenhouse. We used bisulfite RADseq (BsRADseq) and a newly reported reference genome for E. cicutarium to characterize methylation changes in a 2x2 factorial design, controlling for plant relatedness. • In the long-term, 5-Azacytidine treatment alone caused both hypo and hypermethylation at individual cytosines, with increased hypomethylation in CG contexts. In control conditions, drought resulted in a decrease in methylation. CC-BY-NC-ND 4.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), 2024
• Premise of the study. Mounting evidence supports the view that the responses of plants to environmental stress are mediated by epigenetic factors, including DNA methylation. Understanding the relationships between DNA methylation, plant development and individual fitness under contrasting environments is key to uncover the potential impact of epigenetic regulation on plant adaptation. Experimental approaches that combine a controlled alteration of epigenetic features with exposure to some relevant stress factor can contribute to this end. • Methods. We combined the experimental application of a demethylating agent (5azacytidine) with recurrent drought, and recorded their effects on above-and below-ground phenotypic traits related to early development, phenology and fitness in Erodium cicutarium from two provenances. • Key results. We found that 5-azacytidine significantly reduced DNA methylation in leaf and root tissues. Moreover, it slowed plant development, delayed flowering, and reduced the number of inflorescences produced, and such detrimental effects occurred independently of water regime. Recurrent drought reduced final above-and below-ground biomass and total inflorescence production, and such negative effects were unaffected by artificial changes in DNA methylation. Increased fruit and seed-set were the only adaptive responses to drought observed in E. cicutarium, together with an increased number of flowers per inflorescence recorded in water stressed plants previously treated with 5-azacytidine. • Conclusion. Epigenetic effects can desynchronize plant growth, flowering and senescence among individual plants in both favourable and adverse environments. Future studies should focus on understanding intraspecific variation in the ability to change plant methylome in response to stress. .
Bulgarian Journal of Agricultural Science, 2019
Vassileva, V., Vaseva, I. & Dimitrova, A. (2019). Expression profi ling of DNA methyltransferase genes in wheat genotypes with contrasting drought tolerance. Bulgarian Journal of Agricultural Science, 25(5), 845–851 DNA methylation is a reversible epigenetic mechanism that affects important developmental processes and stress-related events in living organisms. The process of cytosine methylation is catalysed by DNA methyltransferases that are structurally and functionally conserved in all eukaryotes. This study assessed the effect of drought stress and subsequent rewatering on the transcription of DNA methyltransferase coding genes (TaMET1, TaMET2a, TaMET2b and TaMET3) in wheat genotypes with contrasting drought tolerance. The applied drought stress led to changes in leaf water defi cit in a variety-specifi c manner. Two of the wheat genotypes, Farmer and Bojana, performed as sensitive to drought, the other two, Yoana and Guinness, were considered as drought tolerant. Under drought ...
2020
As fixed and long living organisms subjected to repeated environmental stresses, trees have developed mechanisms such as phenotypic plasticity that help them to cope with fluctuating environmental conditions. Here, we tested the role DNA methylation as a hub of integration, linking plasticity and physiological response to water deficit in the shoot apical meristem of the model tree poplar (Populus). Using a reverse genetic approach, we compared hypomethylated RNAi-ddm1 lines to wild-type trees for drought tolerance. An integrative analysis was realized with phytohormone balance, methylomes, transcriptomes and mobilomes. Hypomethylated lines were more tolerant when subjected to moderate water deficit and were intrinsically more tolerant to drought-induced cavitation. The alteration of the DDM1 machinery induced variation in DNA methylation in a cytosine context dependent manner, both in genes and transposable elements. Hypomethylated lines subjected to water deficit showed altered expression of genes involved in phytohormone pathways, such as salicylic acid and modified hormonal balance. Several transposable elements showed stress-and/or line-specific patterns of reactivation, and we could detect copy number variations for two of them in stressed ddm1 lines. Overall, our data highlight two major roles for DNA methylation in the shoot apical meristem: control of stress response and plasticity through transduction of hormone signaling and maintenance of genome integrity through the control of transposable elements.