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The branch-thorn occurrence of Lycium ruthenicum is associated with leaf DNA hypermethylation in response to soil water content

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Abstract

Background

Lycium ruthenicum is an eco-economic shrub which can exist in two forms, thorny and thornless under varying soil moisture conditions. The aim of this study was to determine if the two forms of L. ruthenicum were influenced by soil water content (SWC) and to test the three-way link among SWC, occurrence of branch-thorn and DNA methylation modification.

Methods and results

Here, pot experiment was carried out to reveal the influence of SWC on the occurrence of branch-thorn and then paraffin sections, scanning electron microscope and methylation-sensitive amplification polymorphism(MSAP) analysis were used to determine the three-way link among SWC, branch-thorn occurrence and DNA methylation. The results showed that (a) soil drought promoted the development of thorn primordium into branch-thorn and (b) branch-thorn covered axillary bud to protect it against drought and other stresses; (c) the branch-thorn occurrence response to drought was correlated with hypermethylation of CCGG sites and (d) thorny and thornless plants of a clone were distinguished successfully based on the MSAP profiles of their leaves.

Conclusions

Branch-thorns of the L. ruthenicum clone, which occurred in response to drought, covered axillary buds to protect them against drought and other stresses; thorn primordium of the clone did not develop into branch-thorn under the adequate soil moisture condition. The occurrence and absence of the branch-thorns were correlated with the hyper- and hypo-methylation, respectively. We proposed that the branch-thorn plasticity might be an adjustment strategy for the environment, which seems to support the theory of "Use in, waste out".

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are all in the supplementary materials.

Code availability

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Funding

This research was supported by the Opening Project of State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding (K2019202), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31600546) and the Scientific Research Fund of Liaoning Provincial Education Department (LSNJC202023).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Forest Tree Genetics, Breeding and Cultivation of Liaoning Province, College of Forestry, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, 110866, Liaoning, China

    Ailin Yang, Xinyu Qi, Qin-Mei Wang, Hao Wang, Yucheng Wang, Lujia Li, Wen Liu & Yang Qiao

Authors
  1. Ailin Yang
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  2. Xinyu Qi
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  3. Qin-Mei Wang
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  4. Hao Wang
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  5. Yucheng Wang
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  6. Lujia Li
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  7. Wen Liu
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  8. Yang Qiao
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Q-MW; Methodology: AY and XQ; Formal analysis and investigation: LL and WL; Writing—original draft preparation: Q-MW, AY, XQ and HW; Writing—review and editing: Q-MW and AY; Funding acquisition: Q-MW; Resources: YQ and WL; Supervision: YW.

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Correspondence to Qin-Mei Wang.

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Yang, A., Qi, X., Wang, QM. et al. The branch-thorn occurrence of Lycium ruthenicum is associated with leaf DNA hypermethylation in response to soil water content. Mol Biol Rep 49, 1925–1934 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-021-07004-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-021-07004-6

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