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. 2021 May;230(3):1185-1200.
doi: 10.1111/nph.17226. Epub 2021 Feb 15.

Aphid feeding induces the relaxation of epigenetic control and the associated regulation of the defense response in Arabidopsis

Maria Luz Annacondia  1 , Dimitrije Markovic  2   3 , Juan Luis Reig-Valiente  1 , Vassilis Scaltsoyiannes  1   4 , Corné M J Pieterse  5 , Velemir Ninkovic  6 , R Keith Slotkin  7   8 , German Martinez  1
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Free article

Aphid feeding induces the relaxation of epigenetic control and the associated regulation of the defense response in Arabidopsis

Maria Luz Annacondia et al. New Phytol. 2021 May.
Free article

Abstract

Environmentally induced changes in the epigenome help individuals to quickly adapt to fluctuations in the conditions of their habitats. We explored those changes in Arabidopsis thaliana plants subjected to multiple biotic and abiotic stresses, and identified transposable element (TE) activation in plants infested with the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae. We performed a genome-wide analysis mRNA expression, small RNA accumulation and DNA methylation Our results demonstrate that aphid feeding induces loss of methylation of hundreds of loci, mainly TEs. This loss of methylation has the potential to regulate gene expression and we found evidence that it is involved in the control of plant immunity genes. Accordingly, mutant plants deficient in DNA and H3K9 methylation (kyp) showed increased resistance to M. persicae infestation. Collectively, our results show that changes in DNA methylation play a significant role in the regulation of the plant transcriptional response and induction of defense response against aphid feeding.

Keywords: Arabidopsis; aphids; defense response; epigenetics; transcriptional regulation; transposable elements.

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