An epigenetic approach to fight hunger in the world?

Regeneration of the plant can take place via the formation of a pluripotent cell mbad. The process of acquiring pluripotency involves silencing genes in order to remove the memory of the original tissue and prepare for activation by an external input. Under the guidance of Professor Sachihiro Matsunaga of the Tokyo University of Science, a team of scientists has shown that the regenerative capacity of plants requires some demethylase capable of stimulating gene expression in response to signals regeneration.

In multicellular organisms, not all genes are expressed in all cells, which means that not all cells produce the same enzymes or proteins and, therefore, not all cells have the same metabolism. . This differentiation is a key process among multicellular organisms, including plants and fungi. But as the cells become specialized, they become unipotent, which means they lose the ability to form many types of cells. For a long time, scientists have been trying to reprogram mammalian cells to ensure pluripotency by drastic means such as nuclear transfer and induction of transcription factors. However, plants can acquire the same regenerative powers via an external signal input such as hormones and stress. Part of the phenomenon is regulated by epigenetics because these changes are epi or "above" genes.

Professor Matsunaga and his team used Arabidopsis thaliana, a small flowering plant commonly used in plant biology, to study histone changes throughout the genome. Histones are proteins that unite eukaryotic DNA, thus preventing it from being transcribed or decoded. When modified, however, the understanding of these proteins around the DNA molecule loosens, facilitating transcription of the DNA. The group of scientists discovered that it is the demethylation (elimination of a methyl group of the amino acid) of the histone H3 by the enzyme LDL3 which confers on the plant the regeneration competence. This epigenetic mechanism allows the pluripotent cells of the plant to recover their unipotent state and thus badume the identity of shoot meristems for differentiated tissues including leaves and stems. Their results are published in the journal Nature Communications.

Since no seeds are needed to grow these plants, this could potentially help scientists grow plants faster without flowering. "By increasing the ability of plants to reproduce, even without seeds," said Professor Matsunaga, "it is possible to increase the number of clonal plants composed only of leaves, stems and parts of roots. can also solve the problems solve the problem of global food shortage by increasing the production of cereals and vegetables. "

This article has been republished from documents provided by the Tokyo University of Science. Note: Content may have changed for length and content. For more information, please contact the cited source.

Reference: Ishihara et al. 2019. The demethylation of primed histones regulates the regenerative capacity of shoots. Nature Communications. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09386-5.