Plants use a sophisticated series of defense mechanisms to restrict the growth of parasitic bacteria upon infection by stimulating various hormonal signals that trigger alterations in gene expression networks. The Salk findings and other recent studies suggest that these cellular defense responses engage the DNA methylation machinery to impart control over gene expression networks. Epigenetic changes in the genetic material, including changes in DNA methylation patterns and modifications to histones (proteins which play a key role in gene regulation), can alter the expression of a gene without changing its DNA sequence. In addition, molecules called small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are intimately connected with DNA methylation, especially at the jumping genes, where these siRNAs direct the methylation process. Surprisingly, the researchers found that the levels of these siRNAs also change during infection at specific transposons and correspond to activation of these mobile DNA fragments. These findings illustrate the dynamic nature of the epigenome in response to stress.
The Salk findings may have broad implications for agriculture, including engineering the DNA methylation patterns of plants to generate pathogen-resistant crops and minimize pesticide exposure. These application technologies are of intense interest, as more than 30 to 40 percent of annual crops are lost to pathogens each year at a cost of some $500 billion.
A recent study published in Plant Physiology suggests that memory of environmental conditions may be passed transgenerationally, as plant defenses are primed in the progeny of plants whose parents have already been exposed to pathogens. "While this phenomenon is poorly understood, it is of wide interest and is being intensively studied in the field," says Dowen. "We think our findings may provide a framework for directly testing whether the methylation changes that we observed are passed to the progeny or whether a similar mechanism may be occurring in human cells."
The Salk researchers infected two lines of plants with a bacteria to determine whether methylation, a type of epigenetic chemical modification to DNA, plays a role in a plant's response to stress. The leaf on the left, taken from a normal plant five days after infection, shows disease systems. The leaf on the right, taken from a mutant plant incapable of methylation, shows no signs of disease, suggesting that methylation functions in stress responses.
(Photo Credit: Image: Courtesy of Robert H. Dowen)
This is Joseph R. Ecker.
(Photo Credit: Image: Courtesy of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies)
Source: Salk Institute