Heritable epigenetic modification of BpPIN1 is associated with leaf shapes in Betula pendula

Chenrui Gu; Rui Han; Chaoyi Liu; Gonggui Fang; Qihang Yuan; Zhimin Zheng; Qibin Yu; Jing Jiang; Sanzhen Liu; Linan Xie; Hairong Wei; Qingzhu Zhang; Guifeng Liu

doi:10.1093/treephys/tpad085

Heritable epigenetic modification of BpPIN1 is associated with leaf shapes in Betula pendula

Tree Physiol. 2023 Oct 8;43(10):1811-1824. doi: 10.1093/treephys/tpad085.

Authors

Chenrui Gu¹, Rui Han¹, Chaoyi Liu¹, Gonggui Fang¹, Qihang Yuan¹, Zhimin Zheng¹, Qibin Yu², Jing Jiang¹, Sanzhen Liu³, Linan Xie⁴, Hairong Wei⁵, Qingzhu Zhang^{1

4}, Guifeng Liu¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Northeast Forestry University, No. 51, Hexing Road, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150040, China.
² Citrus Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Lake Alfred, FL 33580, USA.
³ Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University, Throckmorton Center, 116 Ackert Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506-5502, USA.
⁴ College of Life Science, Northeast Forestry University, No. 26, Hexing Road, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150040, China.
⁵ College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Dr, Houghton, MI 49931, USA.

PMID: 37406032
DOI: 10.1093/treephys/tpad085

Abstract

The new variety Betula pendula 'Dalecarlica', selected from Betula pendula, shows high ornamental value owing to its lobed leaf shape. In this study, to identify the genetic components of leaf shape formation, we performed bulked segregant analysis and molecular marker-based fine mapping to identify the causal gene responsible for lobed leaves in B. pendula 'Dalecarlica'. The most significant variations associated with leaf shape were identified within the gene BpPIN1 encoding a member of the PIN-FORMED family, responsible for the auxin efflux carrier. We further confirmed the hypomethylation at the promoter region promoting the expression level of BpPIN1, which causes stronger and longer veins and lobed leaf shape in B. pendula 'Dalecarlica'. These results indicated that DNA methylation at the BpPIN1 promoter region is associated with leaf shapes in B. pendula. Our findings revealed an epigenetic mechanism of BpPIN1 in the regulation of leaf shape in Betula Linn. (birch), which could help in the molecular breeding of ornamental traits.

Keywords: BSA-seq; NA methylation; PIN-FORMED (PIN).

Abstract

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