Eun Yu Kim1, Kyung Do Kim2, Jungnam Cho3,4,5. 1. National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200032, China. eunyukim@cemps.ac.cn. 2. Myongji University, Yongin, 17058, Korea. kyungdokim@mju.ac.kr. 3. National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200032, China. jungnamcho@cemps.ac.cn. 4. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China. jungnamcho@cemps.ac.cn. 5. CAS-JIC Center of Excellence for Plant and Microbial Science, Shanghai, 200032, China. jungnamcho@cemps.ac.cn.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The epigenetic mechanisms play critical roles in a vast diversity of biological processes of plants, including development and response to environmental challenges. Particularly, DNA methylation is a stable epigenetic signature that supplements the genetics-based view of complex life phenomena. In crop breeding, the decrease in genetic diversity due to artificial selection of conventional breeding methods has been a long-standing concern. Therefore, the epigenetic diversity has been proposed as a new resource for future crop breeding, which will be hereinafter referred to as epibreeding. DISCUSSION: The induction of methylome changes has been performed in plants by several methods including chemical drugs treatment and tissue culture. Target-specific epigenetic engineering has been also attempted by exogenous RNAi mediated by virus-induced gene silencing and grafting. Importantly, the new and innovative techniques including the CRISPR-Cas9 system have recently been adopted in epigenetic engineering of plant genomes, facilitating the efforts for epibreeding. CONCLUSION: In this review, we introduce several examples of natural and induced epigenetic changes impacting on agronomic traits and discuss the methods for generating epigenomic diversity and site-specific epigenetic engineering.
BACKGROUND: The epigenetic mechanisms play critical roles in a vast diversity of biological processes of plants, including development and response to environmental challenges. Particularly, DNA methylation is a stable epigenetic signature that supplements the genetics-based view of complex life phenomena. In crop breeding, the decrease in genetic diversity due to artificial selection of conventional breeding methods has been a long-standing concern. Therefore, the epigenetic diversity has been proposed as a new resource for future crop breeding, which will be hereinafter referred to as epibreeding. DISCUSSION: The induction of methylome changes has been performed in plants by several methods including chemical drugs treatment and tissue culture. Target-specific epigenetic engineering has been also attempted by exogenous RNAi mediated by virus-induced gene silencing and grafting. Importantly, the new and innovative techniques including the CRISPR-Cas9 system have recently been adopted in epigenetic engineering of plant genomes, facilitating the efforts for epibreeding. CONCLUSION: In this review, we introduce several examples of natural and induced epigenetic changes impacting on agronomic traits and discuss the methods for generating epigenomic diversity and site-specific epigenetic engineering.
Authors: Nicolas Daccord; Jean-Marc Celton; Gareth Linsmith; Claude Becker; Nathalie Choisne; Elio Schijlen; Henri van de Geest; Luca Bianco; Diego Micheletti; Riccardo Velasco; Erica Adele Di Pierro; Jérôme Gouzy; D Jasper G Rees; Philippe Guérif; Hélène Muranty; Charles-Eric Durel; François Laurens; Yves Lespinasse; Sylvain Gaillard; Sébastien Aubourg; Hadi Quesneville; Detlef Weigel; Eric van de Weg; Michela Troggio; Etienne Bucher Journal: Nat Genet Date: 2017-06-05 Impact factor: 38.330