Hypomethylated Pollen Bypasses the Interploidy Hybridization Barrier in Arabidopsis

Abstract

Plants of different ploidy levels are separated by a strong postzygotic hybridization barrier that is established in the endosperm. Deregulated parent-of-origin specific genes cause the response to interploidy hybridizations, revealing an epigenetic basis of this phenomenon. In this study, we present evidence that paternal hypomethylation can bypass the interploidy hybridization barrier by alleviating the requirement for the Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) in the endosperm. PRC2 epigenetically regulates gene expression by applying methylation marks on histone H3. Bypass of the barrier is mediated by suppressed expression of imprinted genes. We show that the hypomethylated pollen genome causes de novo CHG methylation directed to FIS-PRC2 target genes, suggesting that different epigenetic modifications can functionally substitute for each other. Our work presents a method for the generation of viable triploids, providing an impressive example of the potential of epigenome manipulations for plant breeding.

Published in

Plant Cell
2014, volume: 26, number: 9, pages: 3556-3568
Publisher: AMER SOC PLANT BIOLOGISTS

SLU Authors

• Schatlowski, Nicole

  • Department of Plant Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Wolff, Philip

  • Department of Plant Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich)

• Santos-González, Juan

  • Department of Plant Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Siretskiy, Alexey

  • Department of Plant Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Köhler, Claudia

  • Department of Plant Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Plant Biotechnology
Cell Biology
Developmental Biology

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.114.130120

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/66840