Epigenetics: possible applications in climate-smart crop breeding

Serena Varotto; Eleni Tani; Eleni Abraham; Tamar Krugman; Aliki Kapazoglou; Rainer Melzer; Aleksandra Radanović; Dragana Miladinović

doi:10.1093/jxb/eraa188

Epigenetics: possible applications in climate-smart crop breeding

J Exp Bot. 2020 Aug 17;71(17):5223-5236. doi: 10.1093/jxb/eraa188.

Authors

Serena Varotto¹, Eleni Tani², Eleni Abraham³, Tamar Krugman⁴, Aliki Kapazoglou⁵, Rainer Melzer⁶, Aleksandra Radanović⁷, Dragana Miladinović⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals, and the Environment, University of Padova, Agripolis, Viale dell'Università, Padova, Italy.
² Department of Crop Science, Laboratory of Plant Breeding and Biometry, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
³ Laboratory of Range Science, School of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
⁴ Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
⁵ Institute of Olive Tree, Subtropical Crops and Viticulture (IOSV), Department of Vitis, Hellenic Agricultural Organization-Demeter (HAO-Demeter), Lykovrysi, Greece.
⁶ School of Biology and Environmental Science and Earth Institute, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland.
⁷ Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, Maksima Gorkog, Serbia.

Abstract

To better adapt transiently or lastingly to stimuli from the surrounding environment, the chromatin states in plant cells vary to allow the cells to fine-tune their transcriptional profiles. Modifications of chromatin states involve a wide range of post-transcriptional histone modifications, histone variants, DNA methylation, and activity of non-coding RNAs, which can epigenetically determine specific transcriptional outputs. Recent advances in the area of '-omics' of major crops have facilitated identification of epigenetic marks and their effect on plant response to environmental stresses. As most epigenetic mechanisms are known from studies in model plants, we summarize in this review recent epigenetic studies that may be important for improvement of crop adaptation and resilience to environmental changes, ultimately leading to the generation of stable climate-smart crops. This has paved the way for exploitation of epigenetic variation in crop breeding.

Keywords: Abiotic stress; DNA methylation; breeding; chromatin; climate-smart; crops; epigenetic changes; small RNA.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Review

MeSH terms

DNA Methylation
Epigenesis, Genetic
Gene Expression Regulation, Plant*
Plant Breeding*
Stress, Physiological / genetics