Engineering tree seasonal cycles of growth through chromatin modification

Daniel Conde, Mariano Perales, Avinash Sreedasyam, Gerald A. Tuskan, Alba Lloret, María L. Badenes, Pablo González-Melendi, Gabino Ríos, Isabel Allona

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

In temperate and boreal regions, perennial trees arrest cell division in their meristematic tissues during winter dormancy until environmental conditions become appropriate for their renewed growth. Release from the dormant state requires exposure to a period of chilling temperatures similar to the vernalization required for flowering in Arabidopsis. Over the past decade, genomic DNA (gDNA) methylation and transcriptome studies have revealed signatures of chromatin regulation during active growth and winter dormancy. To date, only a few chromatin modification genes, as candidate regulators of these developmental stages, have been functionally characterized in trees. In this work, we summarize the major findings of the chromatin-remodeling role during growth-dormancy cycles and we explore the transcriptional profiling of vegetative apical bud and stem tissues during dormancy. Finally, we discuss genetic strategies designed to improve the growth and quality of forest trees.

Original languageEnglish
Article number412
JournalFrontiers in Plant Science
Volume10
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 22 2019

Funding

This study was supported by grants AGL2014-53352-R, AGL2010-20595, PCIG13-GA-2013-631630, and INIA-FEDER RF2013-00043-C02-02 awarded to IA, MB, and MP. The work conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (JGI) was supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. The work of MP was supported by the Ramón y Cajal MINECO program (RYC-2012-10194). We really appreciate the great help from the Gene Atlas group: Jeremy Schmutz, Jeremy Phillips, and Joe Carlson. We apologize to all their colleagues whose work has not been cited here because of space restrictions. We acknowledge the Severo Ochoa Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D 2017–2021. Funding. This study was supported by grants AGL2014-53352-R, AGL2010-20595, PCIG13-GA-2013-631630, and INIA-FEDER RF2013-00043-C02-02 awarded to IA, MB, and MP. The work conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (JGI) was supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. The work of MP was supported by the Ramón y Cajal MINECO program (RYC-2012-10194).

FundersFunder number
JGI
U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute
U.S. Department of EnergyRYC-2012-10194
Office of Science
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad

    Keywords

    • Chromatin remodeling
    • Epigenetics
    • Growth-dormancy
    • Methylation
    • Phenology
    • Populus

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