An epigenetic alphabet of crop adaptation to climate change

Guarino, F. et al. (2022) An epigenetic alphabet of crop adaptation to climate change. Frontiers in Genetics, 13, 818727. (doi: 10.3389/fgene.2022.818727) (PMID:35251130) (PMCID:PMC8888914)

Abstract

Crop adaptation to climate change is in a part attributed to epigenetic mechanisms which are related to response to abiotic and biotic stresses. Although recent studies increased our knowledge on the nature of these mechanisms, epigenetics remains under-investigated and still poorly understood in many, especially non-model, plants, Epigenetic modifications are traditionally divided into two main groups, DNA methylation and histone modifications that lead to chromatin remodeling and the regulation of genome functioning. In this review, we outline the most recent and interesting findings on crop epigenetic responses to the environmental cues that are most relevant to climate change. In addition, we discuss a speculative point of view, in which we try to decipher the “epigenetic alphabet” that underlies crop adaptation mechanisms to climate change. The understanding of these mechanisms will pave the way to new strategies to design and implement the next generation of cultivars with a broad range of tolerance/resistance to stresses as well as balanced agronomic traits, with a limited loss of (epi)genetic variability.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This article is based upon work from COST Action EPI-CATCH (CA19125), supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology), www.cost.eu. JD was also supported by the Thematic Excellence Programme (TKP2021-EGA-20) of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology in Hungary, within the framework of the Biotechnology thematic program of the University of Debrecen, and DM by activities of Center of Excellence for Innovations in Breeding of Climate-Resilient Crops—Climate Crops, Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, Novi Sad, Serbia, as well as by Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, grant number: 451-03-9/2021-14/200032, and the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, through IDEAS project “Creating climate smart sunflower for future challenges” (SMARTSUN) grant number 7732457.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Kaiserli, Dr Eirini

Creator Roles

Kaiserli, E.: Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing

• Authors: Guarino, F., Cicatelli, A., Castiglione, S., Agius, D. R., Orhun, G. E., Fragkostefanakis, S., Leclercq, J., Dobránszki, J., Kaiserli, E., Lieberman-Lazarovich, M., Sõmera, M., Sarmiento, C., Vettori, C., Paffetti, D., Poma, A. M. G., Moschou, P. N., Gašparović, M., Yousefi, S., Vergata, C., Berger, M. M. J., Gallusci, P., Miladinović, D., and Martinelli, F.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Molecular Biosciences
• Journal Name: Frontiers in Genetics
• Publisher: Frontiers Media
• ISSN: 1664-8021
• ISSN (Online): 1664-8021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 Guarino et al.
• First Published: First published in Frontiers in Genetics 13:818727
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons Licence