title: Transgenerational, dynamic methylation of stomata genes in response to low relative humidity.
abstract: Transgenerational inheritance of abiotic stress-induced epigenetic modifications in plants has potential adaptive significance and might condition the offspring to improve the response to the same stress, but this is at least partly dependent on the potency, penetrance and persistence of the transmitted epigenetic marks. We examined transgenerational inheritance of low Relative Humidity-induced DNA methylation for two gene loci in the stomatal developmental pathway in Arabidopsis thaliana and the abundance of associated short-interfering RNAs (siRNAs). Heritability of low humidity-induced methylation was more predictable and penetrative at one locus (SPEECHLESS, entropy ≤ 0.02; χ2 < 0.001) than the other (FAMA, entropy ≤ 0.17; χ2 ns). Methylation at SPEECHLESS correlated positively with the continued presence of local siRNAs (r2 = 0.87; p = 0.013) which, however, could be disrupted globally in the progeny under repeated stress. Transgenerational methylation and a parental low humidity-induced stomatal phenotype were heritable, but this was reversed in the progeny under repeated treatment in a previously unsuspected manner.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Philip Lyle Building, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6BX, UK. mike.wilkinson@adelaide.edu.au.
authors.forename: Penny J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Tricker
authors.forename: Carlos M Rodríguez
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: López
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gibbings
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hadley
authors.forename: Mike J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Wilkinson
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics; D020029:Base Pairing / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D019175:DNA Methylation / Q000235:genetics*; D019277:Entropy; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant; D006813:Humidity; D040582:Inheritance Patterns / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010641:Phenotype; D054046:Plant Stomata / Q000235:genetics*; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000378:metabolism; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D034741:RNA, Small Interfering