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Epigenetic regulation of MdMYB1 is associated with paper bagging-induced red pigmentation of apples

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An Erratum to this article was published on 07 May 2016

Abstract

Main conclusion

Paper-bagging treatment can transform non-transcribed MdMYB1 - 2 and MdMYB1 - 3 alleles into transcribed alleles through epigenetic regulations, resulting in the red pigmentation of a normally non-red apple cultivar ‘Mutsu.’

Anthocyanin biosynthesis in apples is regulated by MdMYB1/A/10, an R2R3-Type MYB gene. ‘Mutsu,’ a triploid apple cultivar harboring non-transcribed MdMYB1-2 and MdMYB1-3 alleles, retains green skin color under field conditions. However, it can show red/pink pigmentation under natural or artificial ultraviolet-B (UV-B) light exposure after paper-bagging and bag removal treatment. In the present study, we found that in ‘Mutsu,’ paper bagging-induced red pigmentation was due to the activation of non-transcribed MdMYB1-2/-3 alleles, which triggered the expression of downstream anthocyanin biosynthesis genes in a UV-B-dependent manner. By monitoring the epigenetic changes during UV-B-induced pigmentation, no significant differences in DNA methylation and histone modifications in the 5′ upstream region of MdMYB1-2/-3 were recorded between the UV-B-treated fruit skin (red) and the fruit skin treated only by white light (green). In contrast, bag treatment lowered the DNA methylation in this region of MdMYB1-2/-3 alleles. Similarly, higher levels of histone H3 acetylation and trimethylation of H3 tail at lysine 4, and lower level of trimethylation of H3 tail at lysine 27 were observed in the 5′ upstream region of MdMYB1-2/-3 in the skin of the fruit immediately after bag removal. These results suggest that bagging treatment can induce epigenetic changes, facilitating the binding of trans factor(s) to MdMYB1-2/-3 alleles, resulting in the activation of these MYBs after bag removal.

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Abbreviations

ANS:

Anthocyanin synthase

CHI:

Chalcone isomerase

ChIP:

Chromatin immunoprecipitation

CHS:

Chalcone synthase

DFR:

Dihydroflavonol 4-reductase

F3H:

Flavanone-3β-hydroxylase

FL:

Fluorescent lamp

H3ac:

Acetylation of histone H3

H3K4me3 (H3K27me3):

Trimethylation of histone H3 at lysine 4 (at lysine 27)

SNP:

Single nucleotide polymorphism

UFGT:

UDP-glucose:flavonoid-3-O-glycosyltransferase

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 24·02214) from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). We thank Dr. Ken-ichi Shibuya for technical advice on chromatin immunoprecipitation sample preparation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NARO Institute of Fruit Tree Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8605, Japan

    Songling Bai, Pham Anh Tuan, Takanori Saito, Akiko Ito & Takaya Moriguchi

  2. Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Horticultural Plant Integrative Biology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310058, China

    Songling Bai

  3. Graduate School of Horticulture, Chiba University, Matsudo, Chiba, 271-8510, Japan

    Takanori Saito

  4. NARO Institute of Fruit Tree Science, Morioka, Iwate, 020-0123, Japan

    Chikako Honda

  5. Apple Research Institute, Aomori Prefectural Industrial Technology Research Center, Kuroishi, Aomori, 036-0332, Japan

    Yoshimichi Hatsuyama

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  1. Songling Bai
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Correspondence to Takaya Moriguchi.

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Bai, S., Tuan, P.A., Saito, T. et al. Epigenetic regulation of MdMYB1 is associated with paper bagging-induced red pigmentation of apples. Planta 244, 573–586 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-016-2524-4

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