Epigenetic Changes in Host Ribosomal DNA Promoter Induced by an Asymptomatic Plant Virus Infection
| Autor: | Elizabeth Hevia, Carmen Hernández, Miryam Pérez-Cañamás |
|---|---|
| Přispěvatelé: | Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España), European Commission, Generalitat Valenciana |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
0301 basic medicine viral suppressor of RNA silencing Methyltransferase RNA virus Demethylases Bisulfite sequencing Plant virus METHYLTRASFERASE 1 Biology 01 natural sciences DNA methyltransferase General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology Article Tombusviridae 03 medical and health sciences chemistry.chemical_compound plant virus Epigenetics lcsh:QH301-705.5 Genetics DNA methylation General Immunology and Microbiology Viral suppressor of RNA silencing demethylases Methylation humanities Transcriptional gene silencing 030104 developmental biology lcsh:Biology (General) chemistry CpG site transcriptional gene silencing General Agricultural and Biological Sciences DNA 010606 plant biology & botany |
| Zdroj: | Biology Volume 9 Issue 5 Digital.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC instname RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia Biology, Vol 9, Iss 91, p 91 (2020) |
| ISSN: | 2079-7737 |
| DOI: | 10.3390/biology9050091 |
| Popis: | © 2020 by the authors. DNA cytosine methylation is one of the main epigenetic mechanisms in higher eukaryotes and is considered to play a key role in transcriptional gene silencing. In plants, cytosine methylation can occur in all sequence contexts (CG, CHG, and CHH), and its levels are controlled by multiple pathways, including de novo methylation, maintenance methylation, and demethylation. Modulation of DNA methylation represents a potentially robust mechanism to adjust gene expression following exposure to different stresses. However, the potential involvement of epigenetics in plant-virus interactions has been scarcely explored, especially with regard to RNA viruses. Here, we studied the impact of a symptomless viral infection on the epigenetic status of the host genome. We focused our attention on the interaction between Nicotiana benthamiana and Pelargonium line pattern virus (PLPV, family Tombusviridae), and analyzed cytosine methylation in the repetitive genomic element corresponding to ribosomal DNA (rDNA). Through a combination of bisulfite sequencing and RT-qPCR, we obtained data showing that PLPV infection gives rise to a reduction in methylation at CG sites of the rDNA promoter. Such a reduction correlated with an increase and decrease, respectively, in the expression levels of some key demethylases and of MET1, the DNA methyltransferase responsible for the maintenance of CG methylation. Hypomethylation of rDNA promoter was associated with a five-fold augmentation of rRNA precursor levels. The PLPV protein p37, reported as a suppressor of post-transcriptional gene silencing, did not lead to the same effects when expressed alone and, thus, it is unlikely to act as suppressor of transcriptional gene silencing. Collectively, the results suggest that PLPV infection as a whole is able to modulate host transcriptional activity through changes in the cytosine methylation pattern arising from misregulation of methyltransferases/demethylases balance. This work was funded by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO, Spain)-European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) (grants BFU2012-36095 and BFU2015-70261 to C.H) and by the Generalitat Valenciana (GVA, Valencia, Spain) (grant PROMETEO/2019/012 to C.H.). E.H. was the recipient of a contract from MINECO-FEDER and M.P.-C. was the recipient of contracts from MINECO-FEDER and GVA. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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