Li Yunzhen, Jin Liujie, Liu Xinyu, He Chao, Bi Siteng, Saeed Sulaiman, Yan Wenhao
National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
Plant Divers. 2024 Mar 4;46(3):386-394. doi: 10.1016/j.pld.2024.02.005. eCollection 2024 May.
Vernalization is necessary for winter wheat to flower. However, it is unclear whether vernalization is also required for spring wheat, which is frequently sown in fall, and what molecular mechanisms underlie the vernalization response in wheat varieties. In this study, we examined the molecular mechanisms that regulate vernalization response in winter and spring wheat varieties. For this purpose, we determined how major vernalization genes (, , and ) respond to vernalization in these varieties and whether modifications to histones play a role in changes in gene expression. We also identified genes that are differentially regulated in response to vernalization in winter and spring wheat varieties. We found that in winter wheat, but not in spring wheat, expression decreases when returned to warm temperature following vernalization. This finding may be associated with differences between spring and winter wheat in the levels of tri-methylation of lysine 27 on histone H3 (H3K27me3) and tri-methylation of lysine 4 on histone H3 (H3K4me3) at the gene. Analysis of winter wheat transcriptomes before and after vernalization revealed that vernalization influences the expression of several genes, including those involved in leucine catabolism, cysteine biosynthesis, and flavonoid biosynthesis. These findings provide new candidates for further study on the mechanism of vernalization regulation in wheat.
春化作用是冬小麦开花所必需的。然而，对于常于秋季播种的春小麦是否也需要春化作用，以及小麦品种春化反应背后的分子机制尚不清楚。在本研究中，我们研究了调控冬小麦和春小麦品种春化反应的分子机制。为此，我们确定了主要春化基因（、和）在这些品种中对春化作用的反应，以及组蛋白修饰是否在基因表达变化中起作用。我们还鉴定了在冬小麦和春小麦品种中对春化作用有差异调控的基因。我们发现，在冬小麦中，春化后恢复温暖温度时，表达下降，但春小麦中并非如此。这一发现可能与春小麦和冬小麦在基因处组蛋白H3赖氨酸27三甲基化（H3K27me3）水平和组蛋白H3赖氨酸4三甲基化（H3K4me3）水平上的差异有关。对冬小麦春化前后转录组的分析表明，春化作用影响了多个基因的表达，包括参与亮氨酸分解代谢、半胱氨酸生物合成和类黄酮生物合成的基因。这些发现为进一步研究小麦春化调控机制提供了新的候选基因。
