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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Philippe Gallusci

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Guest Editor

Univ Bordeaux, INRA, Bordeaux Sci Agro, UMR Ecophysiologie et Génomique Fonctionnelle de la Vigne (EGFV), 210 Chemin de Leysotte, CS 50008 33882 VILLENAVE D'ORNON, France
Interests: plant epigenetic mechanisms; DNA methylation; plant development; plant stress responses; drought; adaptation; fruit development and ripening; metabolism and epigenetic crosstalk

Prof. Dr. Stéphane Maury

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Guest Editor

INRA, EA1207 USC1328 Laboratoire de Biologie des Ligneux et des Grandes Cultures, Université d’Orléans, F-45067 Orléans, France
Interests: plant epigenetic mechanisms; DNA methylation; meristem; phenotypic plasticity; adaptation; drought; phytohormone and chromatin crosstalk
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Epigenetic mechanisms constitute a network of regulatory processes that provide stable and transmittable information to the chromatin beyond the DNA sequence. They involve genomic DNA methylation, post-translational modification of histones, and the synthesis of certain small RNAs. Epigenetic marks have an impact on chromatin organization and thereby contribute to the definition of specific chromatin states and gene expression patterns that are maintained after cell division during tissue and organ development. As such, epigenetic regulations are crucial to the regulation of several plant developmental processes and contribute to the responses of plants to environmental challenges.

The Special Issue “Epigenetic Mechanisms for Plant Gene Regulation” will focus on the analysis of epigenetic mechanisms, their complex interplay, and their contribution to gene regulation and transposon activity during the development of plants and to the response of plants to their environment. Whereas studies in model systems are essential to our understanding of how epigenetic regulation may impact on chromatin and gene expression, those performed on crop plants are also of primary interest as they provide insights into how these mechanisms contribute to phenotypic diversity. In particular, the contribution of epigenetic-mediated gene regulation to specific traits of agronomical importance and its potential use in breeding applications are issues of utmost importance. The importance of the memory that is mediated by epigenetic regulations and their contribution to plant adaptation to stresses will also be considered both in perennial and annual plants. Finally, studies investigating the possible use of epigenetic editing are encouraged as they may provide new strategies to stably modulate gene expression and influence plant phenotypes.

Prof. Dr. Philippe Gallusci
Prof. Dr. Stéphane Maury
Guest Editors

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Keywords

epigenetic mechanisms
epigenomics
DNA methylation
post-translational modification of histones
small RNAs
gene regulation
epigenetic memory
plant stress response
epigenetic editing
breeding
genetic resources
phenotypic diversity and plasticity
population epigenomics
transposable element
epigenetic and hormone crosstalk

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 5160 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Heterologous Expression of SvMBD5 from Salix viminalis L. Promotes Flowering in Arabidopsis thaliana L.

by Yunhe Cheng, Lili Cheng, Qingchang Cao, Junzhu Zou, Xia Li, Xiaodong Ma, Jingjing Zhou, Feifei Zhai, Zhenyuan Sun, Yanping Lan and Lei Han

Genes 2020, 11(3), 285; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/genes11030285 - 07 Mar 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2864

Abstract

Methyl-CpG-binding domain (MBD) proteins have diverse molecular and biological functions in plants. Most studies of MBD proteins in plants have focused on the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana L. Here we cloned SvMBD5 from the willow Salix viminalis L. by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and analyzed the structure of SvMBD5 and its evolutionary relationships with proteins in other species. The coding sequence of SvMBD5 is 645 bp long, encoding a 214 amino acid protein with a methyl-CpG-binding domain. SvMBD5 belongs to the same subfamily as AtMBD5 and AtMBD6 from Arabidopsis. Subcellular localization analysis showed that SvMBD5 is only expressed in the nucleus. We transformed Arabidopsis plants with a 35S::SvMBD5 expression construct to examine SvMBD5 function. The Arabidopsis SvMBD5-expressing line flowered earlier than the wild type. In the transgenic plants, the expression of FLOWERING LOCUS T and CONSTANS significantly increased, while the expression of FLOWERING LOCUS C greatly decreased. In addition, heterologously expressing SvMBD5 in Arabidopsis significantly inhibited the establishment and maintenance of methylation of CHROMOMETHYLASE 3 and METHYLTRANSFERASE 1, as well as their expression, and significantly increased the expression of the demethylation-related genes REPRESSOR OF SILENCING1 and DEMETER-LIKE PROTEIN3. Our findings suggest that SvMBD5 participates in the flowering process by regulating the methylation levels of flowering genes, laying the foundation for further studying the role of SvMBD5 in regulating DNA demethylation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Epigenetic Mechanisms for Plant Gene Regulation)

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Review

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13 pages, 733 KiB

Open AccessReview

Unwinding BRAHMA Functions in Plants

by Caroline Thouly, Marie Le Masson, Xuelei Lai, Cristel C. Carles and Gilles Vachon

Genes 2020, 11(1), 90; https://doi.org/10.3390/genes11010090 - 13 Jan 2020

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 4276

Abstract

The ATP-dependent Switch/Sucrose non-fermenting (SWI/SNF) chromatin remodeling complex (CRC) regulates the transcription of many genes by destabilizing interactions between DNA and histones. In plants, BRAHMA (BRM), one of the two catalytic ATPase subunits of the complex, is the closest homolog of the yeast and animal SWI2/SNF2 ATPases. We summarize here the advances describing the roles of BRM in plant development as well as its recently reported chromatin-independent role in pri-miRNA processing in vitro and in vivo. We also enlighten the roles of plant-specific partners that physically interact with BRM. Three main types of partners can be distinguished: (i) DNA-binding proteins such as transcription factors which mostly cooperate with BRM in developmental processes, (ii) enzymes such as kinases or proteasome-related proteins that use BRM as substrate and are often involved in response to abiotic stress, and (iii) an RNA-binding protein which is involved with BRM in chromatin-independent pri-miRNA processing. This overview contributes to the understanding of the central position occupied by BRM within regulatory networks controlling fundamental biological processes in plants. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Epigenetic Mechanisms for Plant Gene Regulation)

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