title: Transgenerational changes in plant physiology and in transposon expression in response to UV-C stress in Arabidopsis thaliana.
abstract: Stress has a negative impact on crop yield by altering a gain in biomass and affecting seed set. Recent reports suggest that exposure to stress also influences the response of the progeny. In this paper, we analyzed seed size, leaf size, bolting time and transposon expression in 2 consecutive generations of Arabidopsis thaliana plants exposed to moderate UV-C stress. Since previous reports suggested a potential role of Dicer-like (DCL) proteins in the establishment of transgenerational response, we used dcl2, dcl3 and dcl4 mutants in parallel with wild-type plants. These studies revealed that leaf number decreased in the progeny of UV-C stressed plants, and bolting occurred later. Transposons were also re-activated in the progeny of stressed plants. Changes in the dcl mutants were less prominent than in wild-type plants. DCL2 and DCL3 appeared to be more important in the transgenerational stress memory than DCL4 because transgenerational changes were less profound in the dcl2 and dcl3 mutants.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Biological Sciences ; University of Lethbridge ; Lethbridge , AB , Canada.
authors.forename: Zoe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Migicovsky
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kovalchuk
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics*; D009929:Organ Size; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000528:radiation effects; D012639:Seeds / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000528:radiation effects*; D013997:Time Factors; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements
keywords: (−), grown under normal conditions; (+), grown under stressed conditions; C1, the progeny of plants grown under normal conditions in F0; C1S1, the progeny of plants grown under normal conditions in F0 and exposed to stress in F1; C2, the progeny of plan; Arabidopsis thaliana; Dicer-like mutants; UV-C stress; physiological response; transgenerational changes; transposon expression