The Seagrass Methylome Is Associated With Variation in Photosynthetic Performance Among Clonal Shoots

Jueterbock, Alexander; Boström, Christoffer; Coyer, James A.; Olsen, Jeanine L.; Kopp, Martina; Dhanasiri, Anusha K. S.; Smolina, Irina; Arnaud‐Haond, Sophie; Peer, Yves Van de; Hoarau, Galice

doi:10.3389/fpls.2020.571646

Cited by 34 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 146 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In order not to falsely ascribe improved stress tolerance to the formation of a molecular stress memory, it is critical to distinguish between priming and selection. This could be achieved through establishing correlations between positive priming effects and priming-induced epigenetic shifts that are independent from priming-induced genetic shifts by using partial mantel tests and multivariate redundancy analysis (Foust et al, 2016;Gugger et al, 2016;Herrera et al, 2016;Oksanen et al, 2016;Jueterbock et al, 2020). Moreover, tests for outlier loci that have become dominant allelic variants under positive selection (Narum and Hess, 2011;Günther and Coop, 2013;Ahrens et al, 2018) should be carried out in order to prove that positive priming effects cannot be explained by the survival of adapted genotypes.…”

Section: Discussion -Prospects and Challenges Of Priming In Marine Mamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Evidence that epigenetic modifications contribute to form a thermal stress memory in seagrass is suggested by significant stress-induced regulation of methylation-related genes, in particular histone methyltransferases (Nguyen et al, 2020), and a change in DNA-methylation patterns that lasted for at least 5 weeks following exposure to heat stress (Jueterbock et al, 2020). A 5-week heat-stress memory is potentially long enough to heatharden the same generation of previously exposed shoots.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Priming of Marine Macrophytes for Enhanced Restoration Success and Food Security in Future Oceans

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Marine macrophytes, including seagrasses and macroalgae, form the basis of diverse and productive coastal ecosystems that deliver important ecosystem services. Moreover, western countries increasingly recognize macroalgae, traditionally cultivated in Asia, as targets for a new bio-economy that can be both economically profitable and environmentally sustainable. However, seagrass meadows and macroalgal forests are threatened by a variety of anthropogenic stressors. Most notably, rising temperatures and marine heatwaves are already devastating these ecosystems around the globe, and are likely to compromise profitability and production security of macroalgal farming in the near future. Recent studies show that seagrass and macroalgae can become less susceptible to heat events once they have been primed with heat stress. Priming is a common technique in crop agriculture in which plants acquire a stress memory that enhances performance under a second stress exposure. Molecular mechanisms underlying thermal priming are likely to include epigenetic mechanisms that switch state and permanently trigger stress-preventive genes after the first stress exposure. Priming may have considerable potential for both ecosystem restoration and macroalgae farming to immediately improve performance and stress resistance and, thus, to enhance restoration success and production security under environmental challenges. However, priming methodology cannot be simply transferred from terrestrial crops to marine macrophytes. We present first insights into the formation of stress memories in both seagrasses and macroalgae, and research gaps that need to be filled before priming can be established as new bio-engineering technique in these ecologically and economically important marine primary producers.

show abstract

Section: Discussion -Prospects and Challenges Of Priming In Marine Mamentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Priming of Marine Macrophytes for Enhanced Restoration Success and Food Security in Future Oceans

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…P. oceanica cold-plants not only changed DNA methylation levels during the warming exposure, but they also showed the modulation of genes involved in epigenetic processes commonly used by plants for the transcriptional stimulation of stress tolerance and flowering as a possible mechanism to survive and optimize reproductive success under stress conditions 85 . A very recent paper showed that the methylome of the seagrass Z. marina is flexible and responds directly to environmental changes induced by plant cultured under laboratory conditions and to heat stress 61 . Authors suggest that the co-variation in DNA methylation and photosynthetic performance may be linked via gene expression because methylation patterns varied in functionally relevant genes involved in photosynthesis, and in the repair and prevention of heat-induced protein damage.…”

Section: Cold-plants W Arm-plants Cold-plants W Arm-plantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gene body DNA methylation in seagrasses: inter- and intraspecific differences and interaction with transcriptome plasticity under heat stress

Entrambasaguas

Ruocco

Verhoeven

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The role of DNA methylation and its interaction with gene expression and transcriptome plasticity is poorly understood, and current insight comes mainly from studies in very few model plant species. Here, we study gene body DNA methylation (gbM) and gene expression patterns in ecotypes from contrasting thermal environments of two marine plants with contrasting life history strategies in order to explore the potential role epigenetic mechanisms could play in gene plasticity and responsiveness to heat stress. In silico transcriptome analysis of CpGO/E ratios suggested that the bulk of Posidonia oceanica and Cymodocea nodosa genes possess high levels of intragenic methylation. We also observed a correlation between gbM and gene expression flexibility: genes with low DNA methylation tend to show flexible gene expression and plasticity under changing conditions. Furthermore, the empirical determination of global DNA methylation (5-mC) showed patterns of intra and inter-specific divergence that suggests a link between methylation level and the plants’ latitude of origin and life history. Although we cannot discern whether gbM regulates gene expression or vice versa, or if other molecular mechanisms play a role in facilitating transcriptome responsiveness, our findings point to the existence of a relationship between gene responsiveness and gbM patterns in marine plants.

show abstract

“…Variation in DNA methylation has also been correlated to habitat types and shifts in species range (Xie et al 2015;Foust et al 2016;Jueterbock et al 2020). As both a regulator of gene expression and a modification resulting from gene expression (Aceituno et al 2008, Zhang et al 2018, environmentally induced changes in DNA methylation may be indicative of phenotypic plasticity, which can provide a source of variation when there is little genetic variation (Richards et al 2012;Liebl et al 2013;Jueterbock et al 2020). Phenotypic plasticity may be particularly important for rapid response of invasive species to novel habitats (Richards et al 2006 In previous work, we measured the phenotypic and genotypic variation from several populations of invasive Japanese knotweed (Reynoutria japonica and R. x bohemica).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combining epiGBS markers with long read transcriptome sequencing to assess differentiation associated with habitat inReynoutria(akaFallopia)

Robertson

Álvarez

Gurp

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite the limitations of genetic bottlenecks, several invasive species appear to thrive in non-native ranges with extremely low levels of sequence-based genetic variation. We previously demonstrated differentiation of DNA methylation to habitat types of the highly clonal, genetically depauperate Japanese knotweeds using anonymous markers. The functional relevance of this DNA methylation variation is unknown. Here, we sequenced the full transcriptome combined with a reduced representation bisulfite sequencing approach, epigenotyping by sequencing (epiGBS), to characterize the association among DNA methylation, functional transcripts and the diverse habitat types occupied by the invasive Reynoutria species. We identified 50,435 putative transcripts overall, of which 48,866 were annotated with the NCBI NR database. Of these 17,872 (35%) and 16,122 (32%) transcripts shared sequence identity with Arabidopsis thaliana and Beta vulgaris, respectively. We found genetic differentiation by habitat type suggesting the action of selection and a marginal pattern of differentiation of DNA methylation among habitats, which appears to be associated with sequence differences. However, we found no outlier methylation loci, limiting our ability to make functional interpretations. Still, the patterns of genetic diversity may already reflect response to selection among habitat types. Regardless of the source of variation in DNA methylation, these changes may represent an important component of the response to environmental conditions, particularly in highly clonal plants, but more fine scale genomics analysis is required.

show abstract

The Seagrass Methylome Is Associated With Variation in Photosynthetic Performance Among Clonal Shoots

Abstract: conservation management of clonal plants should consider epigenetic variation as indicator of resilience and stability.

Cited by 34 publications

References 146 publications

Priming of Marine Macrophytes for Enhanced Restoration Success and Food Security in Future Oceans

Priming of Marine Macrophytes for Enhanced Restoration Success and Food Security in Future Oceans

Gene body DNA methylation in seagrasses: inter- and intraspecific differences and interaction with transcriptome plasticity under heat stress

Combining epiGBS markers with long read transcriptome sequencing to assess differentiation associated with habitat inReynoutria(akaFallopia)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About