Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Ehrenhofer-Murray, Ann E.

Titel

Increased CG, CHG and CHH methylation at the cycloidea gene in the “Peloria” mutant of Linaria vulgaris

Ist Teil von

• Biochemical and biophysical research communications, 2021-10, Vol.573, p.112-116

Ort / Verlag

Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Heritable DNA methylation variation is frequently observed in natural populations of plants, but is thought mostly to be functionally inconsequential. An exception to this is the “Peloria” mutant of Linaria vulgaris, which was originally described by Carl von Linné in 1744. A study in 1999 found that the Peloria phenotype is caused by an epiallele of the L. vulgaris cycloidea homolog Lcyc that showed increased levels of DNA methylation compared to wild-type. The DNA methylation results in silencing of Lcyc, which causes radial flower symmetry in the peloric mutant, whereas wild-type plants have flowers with bilateral symmetry. However, a detailed view of DNA methylation at Lcyc at the single-nucleotide level has not been available. In this study, we investigated DNA methylation at Lcyc and, as a control, at the LvHIRZ gene in wild-type and peloric plants of L. vulgaris using DNA bisulfite treatment coupled to next-generation sequencing. We found strong increases in CHG and CHH methylation at Lcyc, but not LvHIRZ, in Peloria. CG methylation was also increased, but wild-type Lcyc also showed moderate levels of CG methylation. Our results suggest that DNA methylation in all three sequence contexts has been maintained, and potentially transgenerationally inherited, in the peloric L. vulgaris population over decades or even centuries. •The „Peloria” variant of Linaria vulgaris is a natural mutant originally described more than 270 years ago.•“Peloria” flowers have radial rather than bilateral symmetry, which is caused by an epiallele of the cycloidea gene.•DNA methylation at CHG and CHH sites was strongly increased at cycloidea in peloric compared to wild-type plants.•CG methylation was also increased at cycloidea in the mutant, but wild-type also showed substantial CG methylation.