Methylome changes in Lolium perenne associated with long-term colonisation by the endophytic fungus Epichloë sp. LpTG-3 strain AR37

Frontiers in Plant Science

Plant Science

Richard D. Johnson¹  David E. Hume¹  Wayne R. Simpson¹  Flavia Pilar Forte²  Istvan Nagy²  Torben Asp²  Marta Malinowska²  Paul Dijkwel³  Jan Schmid⁴ 

[1] AgResearch, Grasslands Research Centre, Palmerston North, New Zealand;Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark;Ferguson Street Laboratories, Palmerston North, New Zealand;Ferguson Street Laboratories, Palmerston North, New Zealand;School of Fundamental Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand;

关键词: Lolium perenne;    Epichloë;    DNA methylation;    endophytic fungi;    drought stress;    plant-microbe interactions;    artificial association;    generation effect;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpls.2023.1258100

 received in 2023-07-13, accepted in 2023-08-31,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Epichloë spp. often form mutualistic interactions with cool-season grasses, such as Lolium perenne. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this interaction remain poorly understood. In this study, we employed reduced representation bisulfite sequencing method (epiGBS) to investigate the impact of the Epichloë sp. LpTG-3 strain AR37 on the methylome of L. perenne across multiple grass generations and under drought stress conditions. Our results showed that the presence of the endophyte leads to a decrease in DNA methylation across genomic features, with differentially methylated regions primarily located in intergenic regions and CHH contexts. The presence of the endophyte was consistently associated with hypomethylation in plants across generations. This research sheds new light on the molecular mechanisms governing the mutualistic interaction between Epichloë sp. LpTG-3 strain AR37 and L. perenne. It underscores the role of methylation changes associated with endophyte infection and suggests that the observed global DNA hypomethylation in L. perenne may be influenced by factors such as the duration of the endophyte-plant association and the accumulation of genetic and epigenetic changes over time.

【 授权许可】

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Copyright © 2023 Forte, Malinowska, Nagy, Schmid, Dijkwel, Hume, Johnson, Simpson and Asp