Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Seasonal Growth of Zygophyllum dumosum Boiss.: Summer Dormancy is Associated with Loss of the Permissive Epigenetic Marker Dimethyl H3K4 and Extensive Reduction in Proteins Involved in Basic Cell Functions

Version 1 : Received: 3 June 2018 / Approved: 4 June 2018 / Online: 4 June 2018 (12:49:59 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Khadka, J.; Yadav, N.S.; Granot, G.; Grafi, G. Seasonal Growth of Zygophyllum dumosum Boiss.: Summer Dormancy Is Associated with Loss of the Permissive Epigenetic Marker Dimethyl H3K4 and Extensive Reduction in Proteins Involved in Basic Cell Functions. Plants 2018, 7, 59. Khadka, J.; Yadav, N.S.; Granot, G.; Grafi, G. Seasonal Growth of Zygophyllum dumosum Boiss.: Summer Dormancy Is Associated with Loss of the Permissive Epigenetic Marker Dimethyl H3K4 and Extensive Reduction in Proteins Involved in Basic Cell Functions. Plants 2018, 7, 59.

Abstract

Plants thriving in desert environments are suitable for studying mechanisms for plant survival under extreme seasonal climate variation. Zygophyllum dumosum Boiss, like many other Zygophyllaceae species, displays a unique epigenetic mechanism whereby the repressive markers di- and tri-methyl of H3K9 do not exist. We studied epigenetic mechanisms underlying seasonal growth cycles in Z. dumosum and their association with factors regulating basic cell functions. We showed strong association between rainfall and seasonal growth and the epigenetic marker of dimethyl H3K4, which disappears on entry into the dry season and the acquisition of dormant state. DNA methylation is not affected by lack of H3K9 di and tri methyl and changes in methylation pattern are apparent on entry into the dry season. Proteome analysis of acid soluble fractions revealed extensive reduction in ribosomal proteins and in proteins involved in chloroplasts and mitochondria activities during the dry seasons concomitantly with up-regulation of molecular chaperone HSPs. Our results highlight mechanisms underlying Z. dumosum adaptation to seasonal climate variation. Particularly, summer dormancy is associated with loss of the permissive epigenetic marker dimethyl H3K4, which might facilitate genome compaction, concomitantly with significant reduction in proteins involved in basic cell functions (i.e., protein synthesis, photosynthesis and respiration).

Keywords

epigenetics; H3K9 methylation; H3K4 methylation; DNA methylation; seasonal climate change; summer dormancy; heat shock proteins; ribosomal proteins; Zygophyllum dumosum Boiss

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Plant Sciences

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