Annacondia Maria Luz, Markovic Dimitrije, Reig-Valiente Juan Luis, Scaltsoyiannes Vassilis, Pieterse Corné M J, Ninkovic Velemir, Slotkin R Keith, Martinez German
Department of Plant Biology, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, Uppsala, 75007, Sweden.
Department of Crop Production Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, 75007, Sweden.
New Phytol. 2021 May;230(3):1185-1200. doi: 10.1111/nph.17226. Epub 2021 Feb 15.
Environmentally induced changes in the epigenome help individuals to quickly adapt to fluctuations in the conditions of their habitats. We explored those changes in Arabidopsis thaliana plants subjected to multiple biotic and abiotic stresses, and identified transposable element (TE) activation in plants infested with the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae. We performed a genome-wide analysis mRNA expression, small RNA accumulation and DNA methylation Our results demonstrate that aphid feeding induces loss of methylation of hundreds of loci, mainly TEs. This loss of methylation has the potential to regulate gene expression and we found evidence that it is involved in the control of plant immunity genes. Accordingly, mutant plants deficient in DNA and H3K9 methylation (kyp) showed increased resistance to M. persicae infestation. Collectively, our results show that changes in DNA methylation play a significant role in the regulation of the plant transcriptional response and induction of defense response against aphid feeding.
环境诱导的表观基因组变化有助于个体快速适应栖息地条件的波动。我们研究了拟南芥植物在遭受多种生物和非生物胁迫时的这些变化，并在感染了桃蚜的植物中鉴定出转座子（TE）激活。我们进行了全基因组分析，包括mRNA表达、小RNA积累和DNA甲基化。我们的结果表明，蚜虫取食会导致数百个位点（主要是TE）的甲基化缺失。这种甲基化缺失有可能调节基因表达，并且我们发现证据表明它参与了植物免疫基因的调控。因此，DNA和H3K9甲基化缺陷的突变植物（kyp）对桃蚜感染表现出更高的抗性。总的来说，我们的结果表明，DNA甲基化的变化在植物转录反应的调控以及对蚜虫取食的防御反应诱导中起着重要作用。
