Novel nuclear-cytoplasmic interaction in wheat (Triticum aestivum) induces vigorous plants

Abstract

Interspecific hybridization can be considered an accelerator of evolution, otherwise a slow process, solely dependent on mutation and recombination. Upon interspecific hybridization, several novel interactions between nuclear and cytoplasmic genomes emerge which provide additional sources of diversity. The magnitude and essence of intergenomic interactions between nuclear and cytoplasmic genomes remain unknown due to the direction of many crosses. This study was conducted to address the role of nuclear-cytoplasmic interactions as a source of variation upon hybridization. Wheat (Triticum aestivum) alloplasmic lines carrying the cytoplasm of Aegilops mutica along with an integrated approach utilizing comparative quantitative trait locus (QTL) and epigenome analysis were used to dissect this interaction. The results indicate that cytoplasmic genomes can modify the magnitude of QTL controlling certain physiological traits such as dry matter weight. Furthermore, methylation profiling analysis detected eight polymorphic regions affected by the cytoplasm type. In general, these results indicate that novel nuclear-cytoplasmic interactions can potentially trigger an epigenetic modification cascade in nuclear genes which eventually change the genetic network controlling physiological traits. These modified genetic networks can serve as new sources of variation to accelerate the evolutionary process. Furthermore, this variation can synthetically be produced by breeders in their programs to develop epigenomic-segregating lines.

Production of a desirable Brassica oleraceaCMS line using an alloplasmic B. rapaCMS line carrying Diplotaxis erucoides cytoplasm as a bridge plant

“…In addition to the B. oleracea De ‐CMS lines, alloplasmic B. rapa line and B. juncea line carrying D. erucoides cytoplasm also showed improvements of growth in plant size and seed size, respectively (Malik et al., ; Peng et al., ). Similarly, variations in phenotype caused by the interactions between the nuclear and organellar genomes have also been observed in other plant species, such as wheat (Soltani et al., ), maize (Allen, ), rice (Wang, Tang, & Tang, ) and Arabidopsis (Moison et al., ; Roux et al., ). These examples indicate that nuclear–cytoplasm interactions have the potential to contribute to crop breeding.…”

Two reproductive traits show contrasting genetic architectures in Plantago lanceolata

“…Cytoplasmic genomes may serve as new sources of variation to accelerate evolutionary changes because they can modify the magnitude of some QTLs controlling trait variation, and thus gene networks (Roux et al, 2016;Soltani et al, 2016). Yet, despite their potential importance, the genetic mechanisms underlying cytonuclear interactions remain obscure (Bock, Andrew, & Rieseberg, 2014;Budar & Roux, 2011;Roux et al, 2016;Soltani et al, 2016). A nuclear-encoded pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) protein, POCO1, has been shown to regulate flowering time in A. thaliana via mitochondrial RNA editing (Emami & Kempken, 2019), suggesting one possible mechanism that could underlie the cytonuclear interaction we have observed.…”

“…animals (Gagnaire, Normandeau, & Bernatchez, 2012;Niehuis, Judson, & Gadau, 2008). Cytoplasmic genomes may serve as new sources of variation to accelerate evolutionary changes because they can modify the magnitude of some QTLs controlling trait variation, and thus gene networks (Roux et al, 2016;Soltani et al, 2016). Yet, despite their potential importance, the genetic mechanisms underlying cytonuclear interactions remain obscure (Bock, Andrew, & Rieseberg, 2014;Budar & Roux, 2011;Roux et al, 2016;Soltani et al, 2016).…”

Natural variation in growth and physiology under salt stress in rice: QTL mapping in aHorkuch×IR29mapping population at seedling and reproductive stages

“…Quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping has been implemented in many studies of rice to explore the genetic basis of traits involved in salinity stress for seedling stages, including salt injury/tolerance score, fresh and dry weight of shoot and root, Na + and K + content of shoot and root, and chlorophyll content (Cheng et al , 2011; Lin et al , 2004; Ren et al , 2005; Sabouri et al , 2009; Soltani et al , 2016; Thomson et al , 2010; Tian et al , 2011; Wang et al , 2012; Zheng et al , 2015). However, very few studies have been conducted to understand the genetic basic of reproductive stage traits that are important for tolerance such as plant height, tiller number, panicle number, pollen fertility and yield (Hossain et al , 2015; Zang et al , 2008).…”