Integrated Methylome and Transcriptome Analysis Provides Insights into the DNA Methylation Underlying the Mechanism of Cytoplasmic Male Sterility in Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.)

Zengqiang Li; Dengjie Luo; Meiqiong Tang; Shan Cao; Jiao Pan; Wenxian Zhang; Yali Hu; Jiao Yue; Zhen Huang; Ru Li; Peng Chen

doi:10.3390/ijms23126864

Integrated Methylome and Transcriptome Analysis Provides Insights into the DNA Methylation Underlying the Mechanism of Cytoplasmic Male Sterility in Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.)

Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Jun 20;23(12):6864. doi: 10.3390/ijms23126864.

Authors

Zengqiang Li^{1

2}, Dengjie Luo¹, Meiqiong Tang¹, Shan Cao¹, Jiao Pan¹, Wenxian Zhang¹, Yali Hu¹, Jiao Yue¹, Zhen Huang¹, Ru Li³, Peng Chen¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Plant Genetics and Breeding, College of Agriculture, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.
² Henan Collaborative Innovation Center of Modern Biological Breeding, Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang 453003, China.
³ College of Life Science & Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.

Abstract

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is widely exploited in hybrid seed production. Kenaf is an important fiber crop with high heterosis. The molecular mechanism of kenaf CMS remains unclear, particularly in terms of DNA methylation. Here, using the anthers of a kenaf CMS line (P3A) and its maintainer line (P3B), comparative physiological, DNA methylation, and transcriptome analyses were performed. The results showed that P3A had considerably lower levels of IAA, ABA, photosynthetic products and ATP contents than P3B. DNA methylome analysis revealed 650 differentially methylated genes (DMGs) with 313 up- and 337 down methylated, and transcriptome analysis revealed 1788 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with 558 up- and 1230 downregulated genes in P3A compared with P3B. Moreover, 45 genes were characterized as both DEGs and DMGs, including AUX,CYP, BGL3B, SUS6, AGL30 and MYB21. Many DEGs may be regulated by related DMGs based on methylome and transcriptome studies. These DEGs were involved in carbon metabolism, plant hormone signal transduction, the TCA cycle and the MAPK signaling pathway and were shown to be important for CMS in kenaf. These results provide new insights into the epigenetic mechanism of CMS in kenaf and other crops.

Keywords: DNA methylation; anther and pollen; cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS); kenaf; transcriptome.

MeSH terms

DNA Methylation
Epigenome
Gene Expression Profiling
Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
Hibiscus* / genetics
Hibiscus* / metabolism
Plant Infertility* / genetics
Transcriptome

Grants and funding

This research work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31960368) and the earmarked fund for the Modern Agro-industry Technology Research System (CARS-16-E14).