Drought Stress Induces Transgenerational DNA Methylation in Rice

摘要

Modification of DNA methylation is one of the important epigenetic mechanism by which plants modulate gene expression when they are exposed to harsh environmental conditions. Often heritable morphological variations are observed in different cultivarswhich are accompanied by DNA methylation polymorphisms when exposed to abiotic stresses. In this study, an attempt was made to study the transgenerational DNA methylation pattern at the whole genome level in plants subjected to different regimes of moisture i.e., puddled, 100 and 60 per cent field capacities (FC). Based on the methylation sensitive randomly amplified polymorphic DNA analysis (MS-RAPD), hypo methylation was observed in the parental generation under 100 and 60 per cent FC compared to puddled conditions. The offspring of puddled plants grown under puddled, 100 and 60 per cent showed hyper methylation under stress. Offspring from 100 per cent FC plants showed no change in the methylation pattern. Progenies of 60 per cent FC plants showedhypo methylation under stress. The study indicates that drought stress can induce transgenerational hypo methylation in rice.