INVESTIGADORES
MASUELLI Ricardo Williams
artículos
Título:
Changes in micro RNA expression in a wild tuber-bearing Solanum species induced by 5-Azacytidine treatment
Autor/es:
MARFIL, C.F.; ASURMENDI, S.; MASUELLI, R.W.
Revista:
PLANT CELL REPORTS
Editorial:
SPRINGER
Referencias:
Año: 2012
ISSN:
0721-7714
Resumen:
Phenotypic plasticity is often postulated as a
principal characteristic of tuber-bearing wild Solanum
species. The hypotheses to explore this observation have
been developed based on the presence of genetic variation.
In this context, evolutionary changes and adaptation are
impossible without genetic variation. However, epigenetic
effects, which include DNA methylation and microRNAs
expression control, could be another source of phenotypic
variation in ecologically relevant traits. To achieve a
detailed mechanistic understanding of these processes, it is
necessary to separate epigenetic from DNA sequencebased
effects and to evaluate their relative importance on
phenotypic variability. We explored the potential relevance
of epigenetic effects in individuals with the same genotype.
For this purpose, a clone of the wild potato Solanum ruizlealii,
a non-model species in which natural methylation
variability has been demonstrated, was selected and its
DNA methylation was manipulated applying 5-Azacytidine
(AzaC), a demethylating agent. The AzaC treatment
induced early flowering and changes in leaf morphology.
Using quantitative real-time PCR, we identified four
miRNAs up-regulated in the AzaC-treated plants. One of
them, miRNA172, could play a role on the early flowering
phenotype. In this work, we showed that the treatment with
AzaC could provide meaningful results allowing to study
both the phenotypic plasticity in tuber-bearing Solanum
species and the inter-relation between DNA methylation
and miRNA accumulations in a wide range of species.