2025-05-26 中国科学院（CAS）
Multigenerational cold stress induces heritable ACT1 promoter hypomethylation, enabling rice to acquire cold tolerance for high-latitude adaptation. (Image by IGDB)
＜関連情報＞
- https://english.cas.cn/newsroom/research_news/life/202505/t20250526_1044402.shtml
- https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)00506-9
イネにおけるDNAメチル化による後天的適応的耐寒性の遺伝 Inheritance of acquired adaptive cold tolerance in rice through DNA methylation
Xianwei Song ∙ Shanjie Tang,, ∙ Hui Liu ∙ … ∙ Shukun Jiang ∙ Xian Deng ∙ Xiaofeng Cao
Cell Published:May 22, 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.04.036
Highlights
•Recurrent cold stress during reproduction induces heritable cold tolerance in rice
•Cold-induced DNA demethylation of ACT1 mediates cold tolerance acquisition
•Natural variation in ACT1 DNA methylation causes differential Dof1 binding
•Hypomethylated ACT1 epiallele enhances rice adaptation to high-latitudinal regions
Summary
Epigenetic pathways could provide a mechanistic explanation for the inheritance of acquired characteristics, as proposed by Lamarck in 1802, but epigenetic alterations that endow adaptive hereditary traits have rarely been observed. Here, in cultivated Asian rice (Oryzasativa L.), we identified an epiallele conferring acquired and heritable cold tolerance, an adaptive trait enabling northward spread from its tropical origins. We subjected cold-sensitive rice to multigenerational cold stress and identified a line with acquired stable inheritance of cold tolerance. DNA-hypomethylation variation in the acquiredcoldtolerance 1 (ACT1) promoter region rendered its expression insensitive to cold. This change is, in large part, responsible for the acquired cold tolerance, as confirmed by DNA-methylation editing. Natural variation in ACT1 DNA hypomethylation is associated with cold tolerance and rice geographic distribution. Hypomethylation at ACT1 triggers adaptive cold tolerance, presenting a route to epigenetic-variation-driven inheritance of acquired characteristics.
