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Title: Novel nuclear-cytoplasmic interaction in wheat (Triticum aestivum) induces vigorous plants

Author
item SOLTANI, ALI - North Dakota State University
item KUMAR, AJAY - North Dakota State University
item MERGOUM, MOHAMED - North Dakota State University
item PIRSEYEDI, SEYED MOSTAFA - North Dakota State University
item HEGSTAD, JUSTIN - North Dakota State University
item MAZAHERI, MONA - North Dakota State University
item Kianian, Shahryar

Submitted to: Functional and Integrative Genomics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/9/2016
Publication Date: 3/1/2016
Citation: Soltani, A., Kumar, A., Mergoum, M., Pirseyedi, S., Hegstad, J.B., Mazaheri, M., Kianian, S. 2016. Novel nuclear-cytoplasmic interaction in wheat (Triticum aestivum) induces vigorous plants. The Plant Genome. 16(2):171-182. doi: 10.1007/s10142-016-0475-2.

Interpretive Summary: Proper cellular function requires orchestrated communication among cellular compartments and the ability of the cell to sense and respond to its environment. Plant cells contain three distinct compartments that house DNA. The nucleus contains the nuclear genome, which provides a majority of a cell's genetic material. However, plant cells contain two organelles that retain their own genomes, the mitochondria and the chloroplast. These organelles are essential for energy production, nutrient sensing, metabolism, and stress response. Coordinated signaling among organelles and between the organelles and the nucleus (in both directions) impacts global gene expression and drives cellular functions. Upon interspecific hybridization, several novel interactions between nuclear and cytoplasmic genomes emerge which provide additional sources of diversity. The magnitude and essence of intergenomic interactions between nuclear and cytoplasmic genomes remain unknown due to the direction of many crosses. This study was conducted to address the role of nuclear-cytoplasmic interactions as a source of variation upon hybridization. The results clearly indicate that cytoplasmic genomes can modify the magnitude of genes controlling certain physiological traits such as dry matter weight. In this study certain interactions led to over 40% increase in overal plant vigor that when translated to yield can make a substantial impact on wheat production worldwide.

Technical Abstract: Interspecific hybridization can be considered an accelerator of evolution, otherwise a slow process, solely dependent on mutation and recombination. Upon interspecific hybridization, several novel interactions between nuclear and cytoplasmic genomes emerge which provide additional sources of diversity. The magnitude and essence of intergenomic interactions between nuclear and cytoplasmic genomes remain unknown due to the direction of many crosses. This study was conducted to address the role of nuclear-cytoplasmic interactions as a source of variation upon hybridization. Wheat (Triticum aestivum) alloplasmic lines carrying the cytoplasm of Aegilops mutica along with an integrated approach utilizing comparative quantitative trait locus (QTL) and epigenome analysis were used to dissect this interaction. The results indicate that cytoplasmic genomes can modify the magnitude of QTL controlling certain physiological traits such as dry matter weight. Furthermore, methylation profiling analysis detected eight polymorphic regions affected by the cytoplasm type. In general, these results indicate that novel nuclear-cytoplasmic interactions can potentially trigger an epigenetic modification cascade in nuclear genes which eventually change the genetic network controlling physiological traits. These modified genetic networks can serve as new sources of variation to accelerate the evolutionary process. Furthermore, this variation can synthetically be produced by breeders in their programs to develop epigenomic-segregating lines.