Mitotic and meiotic maintenance of stress memory in woodland strawberry

Diplôme Thèse Mitotic and meiotic maintenance of stress memory in woodland strawberry eng 2023-02-07 2023-02-13 author Lopez Ortiz Maria Estefania 0000-0001-9068-4909 920068 director Bucher Etienne 651582 126 10.13097/archive-ouverte/unige:167606 urn:nbn:ch:unige-1676062 Sc. Vie 205 Environmental stresses can induce a wide range of phenotypic changes in plants and impact their epigenome. DNA methylation is one of the few heritable epigenetic marks and one of its main functions is to control transposable elements (TEs) activity. In this thesis, I investigated heritable genetic and epigenetic changes induced by environmental stresses in wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca sp.). Investigating DNA methylation dynamics during stress exposure in strawberry is of interest because of the ecological and economical importance of these plants. Furthermore, findings in strawberry may be transmittable to other plants in the Rosaceae family that have more complex genomes, including apple, peach, or roses. In addition, wild strawberry is an ideal model to study long-term memory processes given its dual modes of reproduction –sexually, through seeds, and –asexually through stolons. Using global DNA methylation and transcriptomic approaches the objectives of this project were to: (1) Test the impact of abiotic stress on the methylome and transcriptome of F. vesca. (2) Screening for multi-generational persistence of heat-stress-induced changes in DNA methylation patterns. As well as their potential association with gene and TE silencing and/or activation. (3) Investigate the memory persistence differences between asexual (or vegetative) and sexual reproduction. (4) Screening to test if epigenetic changes can contribute to stress adaptation. In this thesis, I show that the strawberry methylome as well as transcriptome respond with a high level of flexibility to ecologically relevant stresses. Notably, the epigenome is most affected by heat-stress. Moreover, I describe that heat-stress induced DNA methylation and transcriptome changes that can be maintained for at least three un-stressed asexual generations. Finally, I describe that first sexual generation from the maternal and their clonal daughter plants showed both shared and unique stress responses, suggesting there was an acquired molecular memory resulting from heat-stress perceived by an earlier generation. In this work, I demonstrate that stresses can induce long-lasting transmittable epigenetic changes in strawberry. Furthermore, I unravel potential differences in the transmission of epigenetic memory between sexual and asexual reproduction. Epigenetics Strawberry DNA methylation Stress Inheritance Dewey 580 EPSO Young plant scientist 2023 45 Département des sciences végétales 163 false 3c7c97f6-8e1d-41a6-b1de-31dbb6c60971 Thesis Public Thesis_2023_LOPEZMARIA.pdf 46073091 application/pdf Restricted 2027-02-08 75027e18507dbe3e1ac8ee40ecf3d9334c40546bee7070fc8445168b6cbccf65 a892d40f-0c59-4ddf-9616-b2452868b520 Imprimatur Public imprimatur_thesis.pdf 1202462 application/pdf 9518b062e0791c9d1ba1702a22ae57beb97ab8994a1bf4f4863aa74aaff3c52d embargoedAccess Faculté des sciences / Section de biologie / Département des sciences végétales

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Mitotic and meiotic maintenance of stress memory in woodland strawberry				2023	481	6

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Lopez Ortiz, Maria Estefania

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