Plant Diversity ›› 2024, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (03): 386-394.DOI: 10.1016/j.pld.2024.02.005

• Articles • Previous Articles    

Epigenetic control on transcription of vernalization genes and whole-genome gene expression profile induced by vernalization in common wheat

Yunzhen Li, Liujie Jin, Xinyu Liu, Chao He, Siteng Bi, Sulaiman Saeed, Wenhao Yan   

  1. National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China
  • Received:2023-10-10 Revised:2024-01-10 Published:2024-05-20
  • Contact: Wenhao Yan,E-mail:yanwenhao@mail.hzau.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by Project 2662020ZKPY002 supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.

Abstract: Vernalization is necessary for winter wheat to flower. However, it is unclear whether vernalization is also required for spring wheat, which is frequently sown in fall, and what molecular mechanisms underlie the vernalization response in wheat varieties. In this study, we examined the molecular mechanisms that regulate vernalization response in winter and spring wheat varieties. For this purpose, we determined how major vernalization genes (VRN1, VRN2, and VRN3) respond to vernalization in these varieties and whether modifications to histones play a role in changes in gene expression. We also identified genes that are differentially regulated in response to vernalization in winter and spring wheat varieties. We found that in winter wheat, but not in spring wheat, VRN1 expression decreases when returned to warm temperature following vernalization. This finding may be associated with differences between spring and winter wheat in the levels of tri-methylation of lysine 27 on histone H3 (H3K27me3) and tri-methylation of lysine 4 on histone H3 (H3K4me3) at the VRN1 gene. Analysis of winter wheat transcriptomes before and after vernalization revealed that vernalization influences the expression of several genes, including those involved in leucine catabolism, cysteine biosynthesis, and flavonoid biosynthesis. These findings provide new candidates for further study on the mechanism of vernalization regulation in wheat.

Key words: Wheat, Vernalization, VRN1, Histone modification, Regulate network