Sound Vibration-Triggered Epigenetic Modulation Induces Plant Root Immunity Against Ralstonia solanacearum

Jihye Jung; Seon-Kyu Kim; Sung-Hee Jung; Mi-Jeong Jeong; Choong-Min Ryu

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2020.01978

Sound Vibration-Triggered Epigenetic Modulation Induces Plant Root Immunity Against Ralstonia solanacearum

Front Microbiol. 2020 Aug 21:11:1978. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.01978. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Jihye Jung^{1

2}, Seon-Kyu Kim³, Sung-Hee Jung^{1

4}, Mi-Jeong Jeong⁵, Choong-Min Ryu^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Molecular Phytobacteriology Laboratory, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Daejeon, South Korea.
² Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, South Korea.
³ Personalized Genomic Medicine Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Daejeon, South Korea.
⁴ Biosystems and Bioengineering Program, University of Science and Technology, Daejeon, South Korea.
⁵ National Institute of Agricultural Science, Rural Development Administration, Wanju, South Korea.

Abstract

Sound vibration (SV) is one of the several environmental stimuli that induce physiological changes in plants including changes in plant immunity. Immune activation is a complicated process involving epigenetic modifications, however, SV-induced epigenetic modifications remain unexplored. Here, we performed an integrative analysis comprising chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and microRNA sequencing (miRNA-seq) to understand the role of SV-mediated epigenetic modifications in immune activation in Arabidopsis thaliana against the root pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum. Plants exposed to SV (10 kHz) showed abundant H3K27me3 modification in the promoter regions of aliphatic glucosinolate biosynthesis and cytokinin signaling genes, leading to transcriptional changes that promote immunity. Additionally, 10 kHz SV down-regulated miR397b expression, thus activating three target LACCASE transcripts that mediate cell wall reinforcement via lignin accumulation. Taken together, SV triggers epigenetic modification of genes involved in secondary metabolite biosynthesis, defense hormone signaling, and pre-formed defense in A. thaliana, leading to the activation of plant immunity against R. solanacearum.

Keywords: ChIP-seq; RNA-seq; Ralstonia solanacearum; epigenetics; miRNA-seq; plant immunity; sound vibration.