Premium
Transgenerational phenotype aggravation in CAF ‐1 mutants reveals parent‐of‐origin specific epigenetic inheritance
Author(s) -
Mozgova Iva,
Wildhaber Thomas,
TrejoArellano Minerva S.,
Fajkus Jiri,
Roszak Pawel,
Köhler Claudia,
Hennig Lars
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/nph.15082
Subject(s) - epigenetics , biology , phenotype , arabidopsis , genetics , dna methylation , mutant , chromatin , reprogramming , gene , transcriptome , histone , gene expression
Summary Chromatin is assembled by histone chaperones such as chromatin assembly factor CAF ‐1. We had noticed that vigor of Arabidopsis thaliana CAF ‐1 mutants decreased over several generations. Because changes in mutant phenotype severity over generations are unusual, we asked how repeated selfing of Arabidopsis CAF ‐1 mutants affects phenotype severity. CAF ‐1 mutant plants of various generations were grown, and developmental phenotypes, transcriptomes and DNA cytosine‐methylation profiles were compared quantitatively. Shoot‐ and root‐related growth phenotypes were progressively more affected in successive generations of CAF ‐1 mutants. Early and late generations of the fasciata (fas)2‐4 CAF ‐1 mutant displayed only limited changes in gene expression, of which increasing upregulation of plant defense‐related genes reflects the transgenerational phenotype aggravation. Likewise, global DNA methylation in the sequence context CHG but not CG or CHH (where H = A, T or C) changed over generations in fas2‐4 . Crossing early and late generation fas2‐4 plants established that the maternal contribution to the phenotype severity exceeds the paternal contribution. Together, epigenetic rather than genetic mechanisms underlie the progressive developmental phenotype aggravation in the Arabidopsis CAF ‐1 mutants and preferred maternal transmission reveals a more efficient reprogramming of epigenetic information in the male than the female germline.