DNA methylation and gene expression regulation associated with vascularization in Sorghum bicolor

Turco, G.M.; Kajala, K.; Kunde-Ramamoorthy, G.; Ngan, C-Y.; Olson, A.; Deshphande, S.; Tolkunov, D.; Waring, B.; Stelpflug, S.; Klein, P.; Schmutz, J.; Kaeppler, S.; Ware, D.; Wei, C-L.; Etchells, J.P.; Brady, S.M.

doi:10.1111/nph.14448

DNA methylation and gene expression regulation associated with vascularization in Sorghum bicolor

Turco, G.M.; Kajala, K.; Kunde-Ramamoorthy, G.; Ngan, C-Y.; Olson, A.; Deshphande, S.; Tolkunov, D.; Waring, B.; Stelpflug, S.; Klein, P.; Schmutz, J.; Kaeppler, S.; Ware, D.; Wei, C-L.; Etchells, J.P.; Brady, S.M.

Authors

G.M. Turco

K. Kajala

G. Kunde-Ramamoorthy

C-Y. Ngan

A. Olson

S. Deshphande

D. Tolkunov

B. Waring

S. Stelpflug

P. Klein

J. Schmutz

S. Kaeppler

D. Ware

C-L. Wei

Dr Peter Etchells peter.etchells@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

S.M. Brady

Abstract

Plant secondary cell walls constitute the majority of plant biomass. They are predominantly found in xylem cells, which are derived from vascular initials during vascularization. Little is known about these processes in grass species despite their emerging importance as biomass feedstocks. The targeted biofuel crop Sorghum bicolor has a sequenced and well-annotated genome, making it an ideal monocot model for addressing vascularization and biomass deposition. Here we generated tissue-specific transcriptome and DNA methylome data from sorghum shoots, roots and developing root vascular and nonvascular tissues. Many genes associated with vascular development in other species show enriched expression in developing vasculature. However, several transcription factor families varied in vascular expression in sorghum compared with Arabidopsis and maize. Furthermore, differential expression of genes associated with DNA methylation were identified between vascular and nonvascular tissues, implying that changes in DNA methylation are a feature of sorghum root vascularization, which we confirmed using tissue-specific DNA methylome data. Roots treated with a DNA methylation inhibitor also showed a significant decrease in root length. Tissues and organs can be discriminated based on their genomic methylation patterns and methylation context. Consequently, tissue-specific changes in DNA methylation are part of the normal developmental process.

Citation

Turco, G., Kajala, K., Kunde-Ramamoorthy, G., Ngan, C., Olson, A., Deshphande, S., …Brady, S. (2017). DNA methylation and gene expression regulation associated with vascularization in Sorghum bicolor. New Phytologist, 214(3), 1213-1229. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.14448

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Dec 19, 2016
Online Publication Date	Feb 10, 2017
Publication Date	May 1, 2017
Deposit Date	Feb 14, 2017
Publicly Available Date	Mar 1, 2017
Journal	New Phytologist
Print ISSN	0028-646X
Electronic ISSN	1469-8137
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	214
Issue	3
Pages	1213-1229
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.14448

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Advance online version © 2017 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2017 New Phytologist Trust This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.