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Zhang L, Wang X, Zu Y, He Y, Li Z, Li Y. Effects of UV-B Radiation Exposure on Transgenerational Plasticity in Grain Morphology and Proanthocyanidin Content in Yuanyang Red Rice. Int J Mol Sci 2024; 25:4766. [PMID: 38731985 PMCID: PMC11084601 DOI: 10.3390/ijms25094766] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2024] [Revised: 04/23/2024] [Accepted: 04/23/2024] [Indexed: 05/13/2024] Open
Abstract
The effect of UV-B radiation exposure on transgenerational plasticity, the phenomenon whereby the parental environment influences both the parent's and the offspring's phenotype, is poorly understood. To investigate the impact of exposing successive generations of rice plants to UV-B radiation on seed morphology and proanthocyanidin content, the local traditional rice variety 'Baijiaolaojing' was planted on terraces in Yuanyang county and subjected to enhanced UV-B radiation treatments. The radiation intensity that caused the maximum phenotypic plasticity (7.5 kJ·m-2) was selected for further study, and the rice crops were cultivated for four successive generations. The results show that in the same generation, enhanced UV-B radiation resulted in significant decreases in grain length, grain width, spike weight, and thousand-grain weight, as well as significant increases in empty grain percentage and proanthocyanidin content, compared with crops grown under natural light conditions. Proanthocyanidin content increased as the number of generations of rice exposed to radiation increased, but in generation G3, it decreased, along with the empty grain ratio. At the same time, biomass, tiller number, and thousand-grain weight increased, and rice growth returned to control levels. When the offspring's radiation memory and growth environment did not match, rice growth was negatively affected, and seed proanthocyanidin content was increased to maintain seed activity. The correlation analysis results show that phenylalanine ammonialyase (PAL), cinnamate-4-hydroxylase (C4H), dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR), and 4-coumarate:CoA ligase (4CL) enzyme activity positively influenced proanthocyanidin content. Overall, UV-B radiation affected transgenerational plasticity in seed morphology and proanthocyanidin content, showing that rice was able to adapt to this stressor if previous generations had been continuously exposed to treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lin Zhang
- College of Resources and Environment, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming 650201, China
| | - Xiupin Wang
- College of Faculty of Animal Science and Technology, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming 650201, China
| | - Yanqun Zu
- College of Resources and Environment, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming 650201, China
| | - Yongmei He
- College of Resources and Environment, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming 650201, China
| | - Zuran Li
- College of Horticulture and Landscape, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming 650201, China
| | - Yuan Li
- College of Resources and Environment, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming 650201, China
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Rahman A, Yadav NS, Byeon B, Ilnytskyy Y, Kovalchuk I. Genomic and Epigenomic Changes in the Progeny of Cold-Stressed Arabidopsis thaliana Plants. Int J Mol Sci 2024; 25:2795. [PMID: 38474042 DOI: 10.3390/ijms25052795] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2023] [Revised: 02/20/2024] [Accepted: 02/25/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Plants are continuously exposed to various environmental stresses. Because they can not escape stress, they have to develop mechanisms of remembering stress exposures somatically and passing it to the progeny. We studied the Arabidopsis thaliana ecotype Columbia plants exposed to cold stress for 25 continuous generations. Our study revealed that multigenerational exposure to cold stress resulted in the changes in the genome and epigenome (DNA methylation) across generations. Main changes in the progeny were due to the high frequency of genetic mutations rather than epigenetic changes; the difference was primarily in single nucleotide substitutions and deletions. The progeny of cold-stressed plants exhibited the higher rate of missense non-synonymous mutations as compared to the progeny of control plants. At the same time, epigenetic changes were more common in the CHG (C = cytosine, H = cytosine, adenine or thymine, G = guanine) and CHH contexts and favored hypomethylation. There was an increase in the frequency of C to T (thymine) transitions at the CHH positions in the progeny of cold stressed plants; because this type of mutations is often due to the deamination of the methylated cytosines, it can be hypothesized that environment-induced changes in methylation contribute to mutagenesis and may be to microevolution processes and that RNA-dependent DNA methylation plays a crucial role. Our work supports the existence of heritable stress response in plants and demonstrates that genetic changes prevail.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashif Rahman
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4, Canada
| | - Narendra Singh Yadav
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4, Canada
| | - Boseon Byeon
- Biomedical and Health Informatics, Computer Science Department, State University of New York, 2 S Clinton St, Syracuse, NY 13202, USA
| | - Yaroslav Ilnytskyy
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4, Canada
| | - Igor Kovalchuk
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4, Canada
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Kovalchuk I. Heritable responses to stress in plants. QUANTITATIVE PLANT BIOLOGY 2023; 4:e15. [PMID: 38156078 PMCID: PMC10753343 DOI: 10.1017/qpb.2023.14] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2023] [Revised: 10/18/2023] [Accepted: 10/19/2023] [Indexed: 12/30/2023]
Abstract
Most plants are adapted to their environments through generations of exposure to all elements. The adaptation process involves the best possible response to fluctuations in the environment based on the genetic and epigenetic make-up of the organism. Many plant species have the capacity to acclimate or adapt to certain stresses, allowing them to respond more efficiently, with fewer resources diverted from growth and development. However, plants can also acquire protection against stress across generations. Such a response is known as an intergenerational response to stress; typically, plants lose most of the tolerance in the subsequent generation when propagated without stress. Occasionally, the protection lasts for more than one generation after stress exposure and such a response is called transgenerational. In this review, we will summarize what is known about inter- and transgenerational responses to stress, focus on phenotypic and epigenetic events, their mechanisms and ecological and evolutionary meaning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Igor Kovalchuk
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Canada
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Panda K, Mohanasundaram B, Gutierrez J, McLain L, Castillo SE, Sheng H, Casto A, Gratacós G, Chakrabarti A, Fahlgren N, Pandey S, Gehan MA, Slotkin RK. The plant response to high CO 2 levels is heritable and orchestrated by DNA methylation. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2023; 238:2427-2439. [PMID: 36918471 DOI: 10.1111/nph.18876] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/26/2022] [Accepted: 03/07/2023] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
Plant responses to abiotic environmental challenges are known to have lasting effects on the plant beyond the initial stress exposure. Some of these lasting effects are transgenerational, affecting the next generation. The plant response to elevated carbon dioxide (CO2 ) levels has been well studied. However, these investigations are typically limited to plants grown for a single generation in a high CO2 environment while transgenerational studies are rare. We aimed to determine transgenerational growth responses in plants after exposure to high CO2 by investigating the direct progeny when returned to baseline CO2 levels. We found that both the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana and seedless nonvascular plant Physcomitrium patens continue to display accelerated growth rates in the progeny of plants exposed to high CO2 . We used the model species Arabidopsis to dissect the molecular mechanism and found that DNA methylation pathways are necessary for heritability of this growth response. More specifically, the pathway of RNA-directed DNA methylation is required to initiate methylation and the proteins CMT2 and CMT3 are needed for the transgenerational propagation of this DNA methylation to the progeny plants. Together, these two DNA methylation pathways establish and then maintain a cellular memory to high CO2 exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaushik Panda
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St Louis, MO, 63132, USA
| | | | - Jorge Gutierrez
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St Louis, MO, 63132, USA
| | - Lauren McLain
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St Louis, MO, 63132, USA
| | | | - Hudanyun Sheng
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St Louis, MO, 63132, USA
| | - Anna Casto
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St Louis, MO, 63132, USA
| | - Gustavo Gratacós
- Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, MO, 63130, USA
| | - Ayan Chakrabarti
- Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, MO, 63130, USA
| | - Noah Fahlgren
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St Louis, MO, 63132, USA
| | - Sona Pandey
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St Louis, MO, 63132, USA
| | - Malia A Gehan
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St Louis, MO, 63132, USA
| | - R Keith Slotkin
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St Louis, MO, 63132, USA
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, MO, 65211, Columbia, USA
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Yamori W, Ghannoum O. Adaptation of plants to a high CO 2 and high-temperature world. PLANT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2022; 110:301-303. [PMID: 36326996 DOI: 10.1007/s11103-022-01310-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Wataru Yamori
- Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Institute for Sustainable Agro-ecosystem Services (ISAS), Tokyo, Nishitokyo, Japan.
| | - Oula Ghannoum
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia.
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