Temperature and photoperiod changes affect cucumber sex expression by different epigenetic regulations
Abstract Background Cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) are known for their plasticity in sex expression. DNA methylation status determines gene activity but is susceptible to environmental condition changes. Thus, DNA methylation-based epigenetic regulation may at least partially account for the instabilit...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2018-11-01
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| Series: | BMC Plant Biology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12870-018-1490-3 |
| _version_ | 1819034607636447232 |
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| author | Yun-Song Lai Di Shen Wei Zhang Xiaohui Zhang Yang Qiu Haiping Wang Xinxin Dou Sigeng Li Yuanqi Wu Jiangping Song Guanyu Ji Xixiang Li |
| author_facet | Yun-Song Lai Di Shen Wei Zhang Xiaohui Zhang Yang Qiu Haiping Wang Xinxin Dou Sigeng Li Yuanqi Wu Jiangping Song Guanyu Ji Xixiang Li |
| author_sort | Yun-Song Lai |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) are known for their plasticity in sex expression. DNA methylation status determines gene activity but is susceptible to environmental condition changes. Thus, DNA methylation-based epigenetic regulation may at least partially account for the instability of cucumber sex expression. Do temperature and photoperiod that are the two most important environmental factors have equal effect on cucumber sex expression by similar epigenetic regulation mechanism? To answer this question, we did a two-factor experiment of temperature and photoperiod and generated methylome and transcriptome data from cucumber shoot apices. Results The seasonal change in the femaleness of a cucumber core germplasm collection was investigated over five consecutive years. As a result, 71.3% of the 359 cucumber accessions significantly decreased their femaleness in early autumn when compared with spring. High temperature and long-day photoperiod treatments, which mimic early autumn conditions, are both unfavorable for female flower formation, and temperature is the predominant factor. High temperatures and long-day treatments both predominantly resulted in hypermethylation compared to demethylation, and temperature effect was decisive. The targeted cytosines shared in high-temperature and long-day photoperiod treatment showed the same change in DNA methylation level. Moreover, differentially expressed TEs (DETs) and the predicted epiregulation sites were clustered across chromosomes, and importantly, these sites were reproducible among different treatments. Essentially, the photoperiod treatment preferentially and significantly influenced flower development processes, while temperature treatment produced stronger responses from phytohormone-pathway-related genes. Cucumber AGAMOUS was likely epicontrolled exclusively by photoperiod while CAULIFLOWER A and CsACO 3 were likely epicontrolled by both photoperiod and temperature. Conclusions Seasonal change of sex expression is a germplasm-wide phenomenon in cucumbers. High temperature and long-day photoperiod might have the same effect on the methylome via the same mechanism of gene-TE interaction but resulted in different epicontrol sites that account for different mechanisms between temperature- and photoperiod-dependent sex expression changes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T07:36:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7dae8890ff664923b3beb81bef8f5494 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1471-2229 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T07:36:25Z |
| publishDate | 2018-11-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Plant Biology |
| spelling | doaj.art-7dae8890ff664923b3beb81bef8f54942022-12-21T19:11:26ZengBMCBMC Plant Biology1471-22292018-11-0118111310.1186/s12870-018-1490-3Temperature and photoperiod changes affect cucumber sex expression by different epigenetic regulationsYun-Song Lai0Di Shen1Wei Zhang2Xiaohui Zhang3Yang Qiu4Haiping Wang5Xinxin Dou6Sigeng Li7Yuanqi Wu8Jiangping Song9Guanyu Ji10Xixiang Li11Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesInstitute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesInstitute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesInstitute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesInstitute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesInstitute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesInstitute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesInstitute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesInstitute of Pomology & Olericulture, Sichuan Agricultural UniversityInstitute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesInstitute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesInstitute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesAbstract Background Cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) are known for their plasticity in sex expression. DNA methylation status determines gene activity but is susceptible to environmental condition changes. Thus, DNA methylation-based epigenetic regulation may at least partially account for the instability of cucumber sex expression. Do temperature and photoperiod that are the two most important environmental factors have equal effect on cucumber sex expression by similar epigenetic regulation mechanism? To answer this question, we did a two-factor experiment of temperature and photoperiod and generated methylome and transcriptome data from cucumber shoot apices. Results The seasonal change in the femaleness of a cucumber core germplasm collection was investigated over five consecutive years. As a result, 71.3% of the 359 cucumber accessions significantly decreased their femaleness in early autumn when compared with spring. High temperature and long-day photoperiod treatments, which mimic early autumn conditions, are both unfavorable for female flower formation, and temperature is the predominant factor. High temperatures and long-day treatments both predominantly resulted in hypermethylation compared to demethylation, and temperature effect was decisive. The targeted cytosines shared in high-temperature and long-day photoperiod treatment showed the same change in DNA methylation level. Moreover, differentially expressed TEs (DETs) and the predicted epiregulation sites were clustered across chromosomes, and importantly, these sites were reproducible among different treatments. Essentially, the photoperiod treatment preferentially and significantly influenced flower development processes, while temperature treatment produced stronger responses from phytohormone-pathway-related genes. Cucumber AGAMOUS was likely epicontrolled exclusively by photoperiod while CAULIFLOWER A and CsACO 3 were likely epicontrolled by both photoperiod and temperature. Conclusions Seasonal change of sex expression is a germplasm-wide phenomenon in cucumbers. High temperature and long-day photoperiod might have the same effect on the methylome via the same mechanism of gene-TE interaction but resulted in different epicontrol sites that account for different mechanisms between temperature- and photoperiod-dependent sex expression changes.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12870-018-1490-3Cucumber germplasmSex expressionTemperaturePhotoperiodDNA methylation |
| spellingShingle | Yun-Song Lai Di Shen Wei Zhang Xiaohui Zhang Yang Qiu Haiping Wang Xinxin Dou Sigeng Li Yuanqi Wu Jiangping Song Guanyu Ji Xixiang Li Temperature and photoperiod changes affect cucumber sex expression by different epigenetic regulations BMC Plant Biology Cucumber germplasm Sex expression Temperature Photoperiod DNA methylation |
| title | Temperature and photoperiod changes affect cucumber sex expression by different epigenetic regulations |
| title_full | Temperature and photoperiod changes affect cucumber sex expression by different epigenetic regulations |
| title_fullStr | Temperature and photoperiod changes affect cucumber sex expression by different epigenetic regulations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Temperature and photoperiod changes affect cucumber sex expression by different epigenetic regulations |
| title_short | Temperature and photoperiod changes affect cucumber sex expression by different epigenetic regulations |
| title_sort | temperature and photoperiod changes affect cucumber sex expression by different epigenetic regulations |
| topic | Cucumber germplasm Sex expression Temperature Photoperiod DNA methylation |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12870-018-1490-3 |
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