title: Hyperosmotic stress memory in Arabidopsis is mediated by distinct epigenetically labile sites in the genome and is restricted in the male germline by DNA glycosylase activity.
abstract: Inducible epigenetic changes in eukaryotes are believed to enable rapid adaptation to environmental fluctuations. We have found distinct regions of the Arabidopsis genome that are susceptible to DNA (de)methylation in response to hyperosmotic stress. The stress-induced epigenetic changes are associated with conditionally heritable adaptive phenotypic stress responses. However, these stress responses are primarily transmitted to the next generation through the female lineage due to widespread DNA glycosylase activity in the male germline, and extensively reset in the absence of stress. Using the CNI1/ATL31 locus as an example, we demonstrate that epigenetically targeted sequences function as distantly-acting control elements of antisense long non-coding RNAs, which in turn regulate targeted gene expression in response to stress. Collectively, our findings reveal that plants use a highly dynamic maternal 'short-term stress memory' with which to respond to adverse external conditions. This transient memory relies on the DNA methylation machinery and associated transcriptional changes to extend the phenotypic plasticity accessible to the immediate offspring.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Anjar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wibowo
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Claude
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3406-4670
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom.|Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Science, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Gianpiero
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2669-0399
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marconi
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Julius
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Durr
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Price
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Jorg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hagmann
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ranjith
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Papareddy
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Hadi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Putra
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kageyama
authors.affiliation: Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia, Oeiras, Portugal.
authors.forename: Jorg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Detlef
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2114-7963
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Weigel
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Jose
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5441-9080
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gutierrez-Marcos
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D045647:DNA Glycosylases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019175:DNA Methylation; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D056426:Genetic Loci; D018745:Genome, Plant; D005854:Germ Cells; D040582:Inheritance Patterns; D009997:Osmotic Pressure; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013312:Stress, Physiological
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D045647:DNA Glycosylases
keywords: <i>a. thaliana</i>; adaptation; computational biology; environment; epigenetic; evolutionary biology; genomics; memory; systems biology