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Abstract
Background: Despite the increasing number of epigenomic studies in plants, little is known about the forces that shape the methylome in long-lived woody perennials. The Lombardy poplar offers an ideal opportunity to investigate the impact of the individual environmental history of trees on the methylome. Results: We present the results of three interconnected experiments on Lombardy poplar. In the first experiment, we investigated methylome variability during a growing season and across vegetatively reproduced generations. We found that ramets collected over Europe and raised in common conditions have stable methylomes in symmetrical CG-contexts. In contrast, seasonal dynamics occurred in methylation patterns in CHH-context. In the second experiment, we investigated whether methylome patterns of plants grown in a non-parental environment correlate with the parental climate. We did not observe a biological relevant pattern that significantly correlates with the parental climate. Finally, we investigated whether the parental environment has persistent carry-over effects on the phenotype of the vegetative offspring. We combined new bud set observations of three consecutive growing seasons with former published bud set data. Using a linear mixed effects analysis, we found a statistically significant but weak short-term, parental carry-over effect on the timing of bud set. However, this effect was negligible compared to the direct effects of the offspring environment. Conclusions: Genome-wide cytosine methylation patterns in symmetrical CG-context are stable in Lombardy poplar and appear to be mainly the result of random processes. In this widespread poplar clone, methylation patterns in CG-context can be used as bio-markers to infer a common ancestor and thus to investigate the recent environmental history of a specific Lombardy poplar. The Lombardy poplar shows high phenotypic plasticity in a novel environment which enabled this clonal tree to adapt and survive all over the temperate regions of the world.
Original language | English |
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Number of pages | 48 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 15-Mar-2023 |
Thematic List 2020
- Forest
Taxonomic list
- poplar (Populus spp.)
- Lombardy poplar
- Populus nigra L. cv. Italica
Policy
- conservation goals
Geographic list
- Europe
Free keywords
- DNA
- methyloom
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Genome-wide methylome stability and parental effects in the worldwide distributed Lombardy poplar'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Active
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Adaptation of trees to climate change
Vanden Broeck, A. (Project leader), Cox, K. (Cooperator), De Clercq, W. (Cooperator), De Cuyper, B. (Cooperator), De Maesschalck, G. (Cooperator), Goossens, S. (Cooperator), Neyrinck, S. (Cooperator), Van Breusegem, A. (Cooperator), Van De Pontseele, J. (Cooperator), Van Schoors, A. (Cooperator) & Verschaeve, L. (Cooperator)
1/01/20 → 31/12/29
Project: own initiative (position paper)
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Genome-wide methylome stability and parental effects in the worldwide distributed Lombardy poplar
Vanden Broeck, A., Meese, T., Verschelde, P., Cox, K., Heinze, B., Deforce, D. & Van Nieuwerburgh, F., 5-Feb-2024, In: BMC Biology. 22, 1Research output: Contribution to journal › A1: Web of Science-article › peer-review
Open AccessFile398 Downloads (Pure) -
Genome-wide methylome stability and parental effects in the worldwide distributed Lombardy poplar. Working Party on Genetic Resources (WP-GEN) - Oral presentation, Key Talk.
Vanden Broeck, A., 23-Oct-2024. 24 p.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper/Powerpoint/Abstract