DNA methylation-mediated ROS production contributes to seed abortion in litchi  

作　　者：Hanhan Xie Yedan Zheng Mengyue Xue Yulian Huang Dawei Qian Minglei Zhao Jianguo Li 

机构地区：[1]State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-Bioresources,Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture,Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops(South China),Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs,Guangdong Litchi Engineering Research Center,College of Horticulture,South China Agricultural University,Guangzhou 510642,China

出　　处：《Molecular Horticulture》2024年第1期430-444,共15页分子园艺(英文)

基　　金：supported by grants from China Litchi and Longan Industry Technology Research System(CARS-32-07);the Laboratory of Lingnan Modern Agriculture Project(NZ NT2021004).

摘　　要：Although there is increasing evidence suggesting that DNA methylation regulates seed development,the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood.Therefore,we aimed to shed light on this by conducting whole-genome bisulfite sequencing using seeds from the large-seeded cultivar’HZ’and the abortive-seeded cultivar’NMC’.Our analysis revealed that the’HZ’seeds exhibited a hypermethylation level compared to the’NMC’seeds.Furthermore,we found that the genes associated with differentially methylated regions(DMRs)and differentially expressed genes(DEGs)were mainly enriched in the reactive oxygen species(ROS)metabolic pathway.To investigate this further,we conducted nitroblue tetrazolium(NBT)and 2,7-Dichlorodihydrofluorescein(DCF)staining,which demonstrated a significantly higher amount of ROS in the’NMC’seeds compared to the’HZ’seeds.Moreover,we identified that the gene LcGPX6,involved in ROS scavenging,exhibited hypermethylation levels and parallelly lower expression levels in’NMC’seeds compared to’HZ’seeds.Interestingly,the ectopic expression of LcGPX6 in Arabidopsis enhanced ROS scaveng-ing and resulted in lower seed production.Together,we suggest that DNA methylation-mediated ROS production plays a significant role in seed development in litchi,during which hypermethylation levels of LcGPX6 might repress its expression,resulting in the accumulation of excessive ROS and ultimately leading to seed abortion.

关 键 词：Seed abortion DNA methylation ROS 

分 类 号：R73[医药卫生—肿瘤]