Estación Biológica de Doñana, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Sevilla, Spain.
PLoS One. 2013 Jul 25;8(7):e70730. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0070730. Print 2013.
Despite the importance of assessing the stability of epigenetic variation in non-model organisms living in real-world scenarios, no studies have been conducted on the transgenerational persistence of epigenetic structure in wild plant populations. This gap in knowledge is hindering progress in the interpretation of natural epigenetic variation. By applying the methylation-sensitive amplified fragment length polymorphism (MSAP) technique to paired plant-pollen (i.e., sporophyte-male gametophyte) DNA samples, and then comparing methylation patterns and epigenetic population differentiation in sporophytes and their descendant gametophytes, we investigated transgenerational constancy of epigenetic structure in three populations of the perennial herb Helleborus foetidus (Ranunculaceae). Single-locus and multilocus analyses revealed extensive epigenetic differentiation between sporophyte populations. Locus-by-locus comparisons of methylation status in individual sporophytes and descendant gametophytes showed that ~75% of epigenetic markers persisted unchanged through gametogenesis. In spite of some epigenetic reorganization taking place during gametogenesis, multilocus epigenetic differentiation between sporophyte populations was preserved in the subsequent gametophyte stage. In addition to illustrating the efficacy of applying the MSAP technique to paired plant-pollen DNA samples to investigate epigenetic gametic inheritance in wild plants, this paper suggests that epigenetic differentiation between adult plant populations of H. foetidus is likely to persist across generations.
尽管评估生活在现实场景中的非模式生物的表观遗传变异稳定性非常重要，但对于野生植物种群中表观遗传结构的跨代持久性，尚未有研究开展。这一知识空白阻碍了对自然表观遗传变异的解释。本研究通过应用甲基化敏感扩增片段长度多态性（MSAP）技术对配对的植物花粉（即孢子体-雄性配子体）DNA 样本进行分析，然后比较孢子体及其后代配子体中的甲基化模式和表观遗传种群分化，从而调查了多年生草本嚏根草（毛茛科）三个种群中表观遗传结构的跨代稳定性。单基因座和多基因座分析揭示了孢子体种群之间广泛的表观遗传分化。个体孢子体和后代配子体中甲基化状态的基因座比较表明，约 75%的表观遗传标记在配子发生过程中保持不变。尽管配子发生过程中发生了一些表观遗传重组，但孢子体种群之间的多基因座表观遗传分化在随后的配子体阶段得以保留。本研究不仅说明了应用 MSAP 技术对配对的植物花粉 DNA 样本进行分析以研究野生植物中表观遗传配子遗传的有效性，还表明嚏根草成年植物种群之间的表观遗传分化可能会在几代中持续存在。
