Dataset Information

A hypomethylated population of Brassica rapa for forward and reverse epi-genetics.

ABSTRACT: Epigenetic marks superimposed on the DNA sequence of eukaryote chromosomes provide agility and plasticity in terms of modulating gene expression, ontology, and response to the environment. Modulating the methylation status of cytosine can generate epialleles, which have been detected and characterised at specific loci in several plant systems, and have the potential to generate novel and relatively stable phenotypes. There have been no systematic attempts to explore and utilise epiallelic variation, and so extend the range of phenotypes available for selection in crop improvement. We developed an approach for generating novel epialleles by perturbation of the DNA methylation status. 5- Azacytidine (5-AzaC) provides selective targeting of 5 mCG, which in plants is associated with exonic DNA. Targeted chemical intervention using 5-AzaC has advantages over transgenic or mutant modulation of methyltransferases, allowing stochastic generation of epialleles across the genome.We demonstrate the potential of stochastic chemically-induced hypomethylation to generate novel and valuable variation for crop improvement. Systematic analysis of dose-response to 5-AzaC in B. rapa guided generation of a selfed stochastically hypomethylated population, used for forward screening of several agronomic traits. Dose-response was sigmoidal for several traits, similar to that observed for chemical mutagens such as EMS. We demonstrated transgenerational inheritance of some phenotypes. BraRoAZ is a unique hypomethylated population of 1000 E2 sib lines. When compared to untreated controls, 5-Aza C-treated lines exhibited reduced immuno-staining of 5mC on pachytene chromosomes, and Methylation Sensitive Amplified Polymorphism (MSAP) profiles that were both divergent and more variable. There was coincident phenotypic variation among these lines for a range of seed yield and composition traits, including increased seed protein content and decreased oil content, as well as decreased erucic acid and corresponding increases in linoleic and/or palmitic acid. Each 5-AzaC-treated line represents a unique combination of hypomethylated epialleles.The approach and populations developed are available for forward and reverse screening of epiallelic variation and subsequent functional and inheritance studies. The generation of stochastically hypomethylated populations has utility in epiallele discovery for a wide range of crop plants, and has considerable potential as an intervention strategy for crop improvement.

SUBMITTER: Amoah S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3507869 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A hypomethylated population of Brassica rapa for forward and reverse epi-genetics.

Amoah Stephen S Kurup Smita S Rodriguez Lopez Carlos Marcelino CM Welham Sue J SJ Powers Stephen J SJ Hopkins Clare J CJ Wilkinson Michael J MJ King Graham J GJ

BMC plant biology 20121020

<h4>Background</h4>Epigenetic marks superimposed on the DNA sequence of eukaryote chromosomes provide agility and plasticity in terms of modulating gene expression, ontology, and response to the environment. Modulating the methylation status of cytosine can generate epialleles, which have been detected and characterised at specific loci in several plant systems, and have the potential to generate novel and relatively stable phenotypes. There have been no systematic attempts to explore and utilis ...[more]

PMID: 23082790

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Project description:BackgroundCucumber (Cucumis sativus) belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family that includes more than 800 species. The cucumber genome has been recently sequenced and annotated. Transcriptomics and genome sequencing of many plant genomes are providing information on candidate genes potentially related to agronomically important traits. To accelerate functional characterization of these genes in cucumber we have generated an EMS mutant population that can be used as a TILLinG platform for reverse genetics.Principal findingsA population of 3,331 M2 mutant seed families was generated using two EMS concentrations (0.5% and 0.75%). Genomic DNA was extracted from M2 families and eight-fold pooled for mutation detection by ENDO1 nuclease. To assess the quality of the mutant collection, we screened for induced mutations in five genes and identified 26 mutations. The average mutation rate was calculated as 1/1147 Kb giving rise to approximately 320 mutations per genome. We focused our characterization on three missense mutations, G33C, S238F and S249F identified in the CsACS2 sex determination gene. Protein modeling and crystallography studies predicted that mutation at G33 may affect the protein function, whereas mutations at S238 and S249 may not impair the protein function. As predicted, detailed phenotypic evaluation showed that the S238F and the S249F mutant lines had no sexual phenotype. In contrast, plants homozygous for the G33C mutation showed a complete sexual transition from monoecy to andromonoecy. This result demonstrates that TILLinG is a valuable tool for functional validation of gene function in crops recalcitrant to transgenic transformation.ConclusionsWe have developed a cucumber mutant population that can be used as an efficient reverse genetics tool. The cucumber TILLinG collection as well as the previously described melon TILLinG collection will prove to be a valuable resource for both fundamental research and the identification of agronomically-important genes for crop improvement in cucurbits in general.

Project description:Targeted genomic enrichment followed by next-generation sequencing dramatically increased the efficiency of mutation discovery in human genomes. Here we demonstrate that these techniques also revolutionize traditional genetic approaches in model systems. We developed a two-step protocol utilizing a traditional bulk-segregant analysis (BSA) approach for positional cloning mutants in phenotype-driven forward genetic screens. First, BSA pools are 'light' sequenced for rough mapping, followed by targeted enrichment and deep-sequencing of the mutant BSA pool for the linked genomic region to fine-map and discover candidate mutations. We applied this method successfully to three Arabidopsis mutants and show that it can be scaled by multiplexing. Similarly, we applied these techniques to a gene-driven reverse genetics method (chemical driven target-selected mutagenesis or TILLING) that is used for generating gene knockouts in a wide range of organisms, including plants, invertebrates and vertebrates. We developed an efficient multiplexed genomic enrichment protocol for pre-barcoded samples. As a proof-of-principle, 770 genes were screened for induced mutations in 30 rats, which identified all but one known variants (30) as well as a large series of novel knockout and missense alleles. Mutations were retrieved at the expected frequency with a the false-positive rate of less than 1 in 6 million basepairs, which is much lower as compared to traditional mutation discovery approaches. Both methods are largely independent of the genome size due to the targeted enrichment and can thus be applied to any genetic model system of interest. Targeted genomic enrichment followed by next-generation sequencing dramatically increased the efficiency of mutation discovery in human genomes. Here we demonstrate that these techniques also revolutionize traditional genetic approaches in model systems. We developed a two-step protocol utilizing a traditional bulk-segregant analysis (BSA) approach for positional cloning mutants in phenotype-driven forward genetic screens. First, BSA pools are 'light' sequenced for rough mapping, followed by targeted enrichment and deep-sequencing of the mutant BSA pool for the linked genomic region to fine-map and discover candidate mutations. We applied this method successfully to three Arabidopsis mutants and show that it can be scaled by multiplexing. Similarly, we applied these techniques to a gene-driven reverse genetics method (chemical driven target-selected mutagenesis or TILLING) that is used for generating gene knockouts in a wide range of organisms, including plants, invertebrates and vertebrates. We developed an efficient multiplexed genomic enrichment protocol for pre-barcoded samples. As a proof-of-principle, 770 genes were screened for induced mutations in 30 rats, which identified all but one known variants (30) as well as a large series of novel knockout and missense alleles. Mutations were retrieved at the expected frequency with a the false-positive rate of less than 1 in 6 million basepairs, which is much lower as compared to traditional mutation discovery approaches. Both methods are largely independent of the genome size due to the targeted enrichment and can thus be applied to any genetic model system of interest.

Dataset Information

A hypomethylated population of Brassica rapa for forward and reverse epi-genetics.

Publications

A hypomethylated population of Brassica rapa for forward and reverse epi-genetics.

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