TY - JOUR
T1 - Grafting vigour is associated with DNA de-methylation in eggplant
AU - Cerruti, Elisa
AU - Gisbert, Carmina
AU - Drost, Hajk-Georg
AU - Valentino, Danila
AU - Portis, Ezio
AU - Barchi, Lorenzo
AU - Prohens, Jaime
AU - Lanteri, Sergio
AU - Comino, Cinzia
AU - Catoni, Marco
PY - 2021/11/1
Y1 - 2021/11/1
N2 - In horticulture, grafting is a popular technique used to combine positive traits from two different plants. This is achieved by joining the plant top part (scion) onto a rootstock which contains the stem and roots. Rootstocks can provide resistance to stress and increase plant production, but despite their wide use, the biological mechanisms driving rootstock-induced alterations of the scion phenotype remain largely unknown. Given that epigenetics plays a relevant role during distance signalling in plants, we studied the DNA methylation genome-wide changes induced in eggplant (Solanum melongena) scion by two interspecific rootstocks used to increase vigour. We found that vigour was associated with a change in scion gene expression and a genome-wide hypomethylation in CHH context. Interestingly, this hypomethylation correlated with the down-regulation of younger and potentially more active Long Terminal Repeat Retrotransposable Elements (LTR-TEs), suggesting that graft-induced epigenetic modifications are associated with both physiological and molecular phenotypes in grafted plants. Our results indicate that the enhanced vigour induced by hetero-grafting in eggplant is associated with epigenetic modifications, as also observed in some heterotic hybrids.
AB - In horticulture, grafting is a popular technique used to combine positive traits from two different plants. This is achieved by joining the plant top part (scion) onto a rootstock which contains the stem and roots. Rootstocks can provide resistance to stress and increase plant production, but despite their wide use, the biological mechanisms driving rootstock-induced alterations of the scion phenotype remain largely unknown. Given that epigenetics plays a relevant role during distance signalling in plants, we studied the DNA methylation genome-wide changes induced in eggplant (Solanum melongena) scion by two interspecific rootstocks used to increase vigour. We found that vigour was associated with a change in scion gene expression and a genome-wide hypomethylation in CHH context. Interestingly, this hypomethylation correlated with the down-regulation of younger and potentially more active Long Terminal Repeat Retrotransposable Elements (LTR-TEs), suggesting that graft-induced epigenetic modifications are associated with both physiological and molecular phenotypes in grafted plants. Our results indicate that the enhanced vigour induced by hetero-grafting in eggplant is associated with epigenetic modifications, as also observed in some heterotic hybrids.
UR - https://doi.org/10.1101/831719
U2 - 10.1038/s41438-021-00660-6
DO - 10.1038/s41438-021-00660-6
M3 - Article
SN - 2662-6810
VL - 8
JO - Horticulture Research
JF - Horticulture Research
IS - 1
M1 - 241
ER -