A neat wheat trick to hide genes from selection

Koki Hayashi; Alisdair R Fernie

doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2024.03.014

A neat wheat trick to hide genes from selection

Trends Plant Sci. 2024 Mar 26:S1360-1385(24)00070-0. doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2024.03.014. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Koki Hayashi¹, Alisdair R Fernie²

Affiliations

¹ Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany.
² Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany. Electronic address: fernie@mpimp-golm.mpg.de.

PMID: 38538389
DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2024.03.014

Abstract

A recent study by Li et al. demonstrated that the removal of like heterochromatin protein 1 (LHP1) in common wheat causes developmental drawbacks, yet confers resistance to stripe rust infection. Due to its role in regulating diversified defense genes, LHP1 was suggested to be an epigenetic gatekeeper potentially promoting adaptive evolution in allopolyploid wheat.

Keywords: H3K27me3; epigenetic buffering; evolution; polyploidy; stress resistance.