A DEMETER-like DNA demethylase governs tomato fruit ripening

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• Main Authors: Liu, Ruie, How-Kit, Alexandre, Stammitti, Linda, Teyssier, Emeline, Rolin, Dominique, Mortain-Bertrand, Anne, Halle, Stephanie, Liu, Mingchun, Kong, Junhua, Wu, Chaoqun, Degraeve-Guilbault, Charlotte, Chapman, Natalie H, Maucourt, Mickael, Hodgman, T Charlie, Tost, Jorg, Bouzayen, Mondher, Hong, Yiguo, Seymour, Graham B, Giovannoni, James J, Gallusci, Philippe
• Other Authors: Biologie du fruit et pathologie (BFP), Université Bordeaux Segalen - Bordeaux 2-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 (UB), Fondation Jean Dausset - Centre d’Étude du Polymorphisme Humain, Génomique et Biotechnologie des Fruits (GBF), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-École nationale supérieure agronomique de Toulouse ENSAT -Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, Hangzhou Normal University, University of Nottingham, UK (UON), Boyce Thompson Institute Ithaca
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2015
• Subjects: fruit ripening; tomato; DNA glycosylase lyase; active DNA demethylation; epigenetic; [SDV.BV]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Vegetal Biology; DML
• Online Access: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-02635649; https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-02635649/document; https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-02635649/file/2015_Liu_PNAS_1.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1503362112

International audience In plants, genomic DNA methylation which contributes to development and stress responses can be actively removed by DEMETER-like DNA demethylases (DMLs). Indeed, in Arabidopsis DMLs are important for maternal imprinting and endosperm demethylation, but only a few studies demonstrate the developmental roles of active DNA demethylation conclusively in this plant. Here, we show a direct cause and effect relationship between active DNA demethylation mainly mediated by the tomato DML, SlDML2, and fruit ripening- an important developmental process unique to plants. RNAi SlDML2 knockdown results in ripening inhibition via hypermethylation and repression of the expression of genes encoding ripening transcription factors and rate-limiting enzymes of key biochemical processes such as carotenoid synthesis. Our data demonstrate that active DNA demethylation is central to the control of ripening in tomato.