Journal
PLOS ONE
Volume 7, Issue 8, Pages -Publisher
PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0042621
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars [30825030]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [31171179]
- National Science and Technology Key Project of China [2009ZX08001-011B, 2009ZX08009-072B, 2011CB100401]
- University of Idaho Startup Funding
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Epigenetic modification generally refers to phenotypic changes by a mechanism other than changes in DNA sequence and plays a significant role in developmental processes. In this study, we found that overexpression of one alternatively spliced tomato DDB1 transcript, DDB1 F that is prevalently present in all tested tissues, resulted in reduction of organ size. Transgenic plants constitutively expressing the DDB1 F from a strong cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter displayed moderately reduced size in vegetative organs (leaves and stems) and radically decreased size in reproductive organs (flowers, seeds and fruits), in which several genes encoding negative regulators for cell division were upregulated. Significantly, reduction of organ size conferred by overexpression of DDB1 F transgene appears not to segregate in the subsequent generations, suggesting the phenotypic alternations are manipulated in an epigenetic manner and can be transmitted over generations. This notion was further substantiated by analysis of DNA methylation level at the SlWEE1 gene (encoding a negative regulator of cell division), revealing a correlation between less methylation in the promoter region and elevated expression level of this gene. Thus, our results suggest DDB1 plays an important role in regulation of the epigenetic state of genes involved in organogenesis, despite the underlying mechanism remains to be elucidated.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available