title: Adaptive Epigenetic Differentiation between Upland and Lowland Rice Ecotypes Revealed by Methylation-Sensitive Amplified Polymorphism.
abstract: The stress-induced epimutations could be inherited over generations and play important roles in plant adaption to stressful environments. Upland rice has been domesticated in water-limited environments for thousands of years and accumulated drought-induced epimutations of DNA methylation, making it epigenetically differentiated from lowland rice. To study the epigenetic differentiation between upland and lowland rice ecotypes on their drought-resistances, the epigenetic variation was investigated in 180 rice landraces under both normal and osmotic conditions via methylation-sensitive amplified polymorphism (MSAP) technique. Great alterations (52.9~54.3% of total individual-locus combinations) of DNA methylation are recorded when rice encountering the osmotic stress. Although the general level of epigenetic differentiation was very low, considerable level of ΦST (0.134~0.187) was detected on the highly divergent epiloci (HDE). The HDE detected in normal condition tended to stay at low levels in upland rice, particularly the ones de-methylated in responses to osmotic stress. Three out of four selected HDE genes differentially expressed between upland and lowland rice under normal or stressed conditions. Moreover, once a gene at HDE was up-/down-regulated in responses to the osmotic stress, its expression under the normal condition was higher/lower in upland rice. This result suggested expressions of genes at the HDE in upland rice might be more adaptive to the osmotic stress. The epigenetic divergence and its influence on the gene expression should contribute to the higher drought-resistance in upland rice as it is domesticated in the water-limited environment.
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Agrobiological Gene Center, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Agrobiological Gene Center, Shanghai, China.|College of Plant Sciences & Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Weixia
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Agrobiological Gene Center, Shanghai, China.|College of Plant Sciences & Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Agrobiological Gene Center, Shanghai, China.|College of Plant Sciences & Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Agrobiological Gene Center, Shanghai, China.|College of Plant Sciences & Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoguo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Agrobiological Gene Center, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Haibin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Agrobiological Gene Center, Shanghai, China.|College of Plant Sciences & Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Yunxia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yue
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Agrobiological Gene Center, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Agrobiological Gene Center, Shanghai, China.|College of Plant Sciences & Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Lijun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Luo
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*; D019175:DNA Methylation; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D055864:Droughts; D060146:Ecotype; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D021141:Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D012275:Oryza / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D009995:Osmosis; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013045:Species Specificity; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D014867:Water / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018744:DNA, Plant; D014867:Water