Ultraviolet B Radiation Triggers DNA Methylation Change and Affects Foraging Behavior of the Clonal Plant Glechoma longituba

Abstract

Clonal plants in heterogeneous environments can benefit from their habitat selection behavior, which enables them to utilize patchily distributed resources efficiently. It has been shown that such behavior can be strongly influenced by their memories on past environmental interactions. Epigenetic variation such as DNA methylation was proposed to be one of the mechanisms involved in the memory. Here, we explored whether the experience with Ultraviolet B (UV-B) radiation triggers epigenetic memory and affects clonal plants’ foraging behavior in an UV-B heterogeneous environment. Parental ramets of Glechoma longituba were exposed to UV-B radiation for 15 days or not (controls), and their offspring ramets were allowed to choose light environment enriched with UV-B or not (the species is monopodial and can only choose one environment). Sizes and epigenetic profiles (based on methylation-sensitive amplification polymorphism analysis) of parental and offspring plants from different environments were also analyzed. Parental ramets that have been exposed to UV-B radiation were smaller than ramets from control environment and produced less and smaller offspring ramets. Offspring ramets were placed more often into the control light environment (88.46% ramets) than to the UV-B light environment (11.54% ramets) when parental ramets were exposed to UV-B radiation, which is a manifestation of “escape strategy.” Offspring of control parental ramets show similar preference to the two light environments. Parental ramets exposed to UV-B had lower levels of overall DNA methylation and had different epigenetic profiles than control parental ramets. The methylation of UV-B-stressed parental ramets was maintained among their offspring ramets, although the epigenetic differentiation was reduced after several asexual generations. The parental experience with the UV-B radiation strongly influenced foraging behavior. The memory on the previous environmental interaction enables clonal plants to better interact with a heterogeneous environment and the memory is at least partly based on heritable epigenetic variation.

Light, chromatin, action: nuclear events regulating light signaling in Arabidopsis

“…Yet, no significant DNA methylation changes could be observed between primed and unprimed plants, and mutants affected in DNA methylation deposition, maintenance or removal, displayed no priming defects in this study (Ganguly et al, 2019). The latter observation suggests the existence of a light priming mechanism independent of DNA Long-term, transgenerational, memory of UV-B exposure has also been unveiled in the clonal plant Glechoma longituba (ground ivy), in which parental ramets exposed to UV-B produce offspring ramets manifesting an 'escape strategy' when foraging in a UV heterogeneous environment, whereas ramets from 'na€ ıve' parents do not show any behavioral preference (Quan et al, 2021). In this study, UV-B stress reduced overall DNA methylation level in parental ramets, a hypomethylation event that appears to be maintained in offspring ramets.…”

“…Long‐term, transgenerational, memory of UV‐B exposure has also been unveiled in the clonal plant Glechoma longituba (ground ivy), in which parental ramets exposed to UV‐B produce offspring ramets manifesting an ‘escape strategy’ when foraging in a UV heterogeneous environment, whereas ramets from ‘naïve’ parents do not show any behavioral preference (Quan et al ., 2021 ). In this study, UV‐B stress reduced overall DNA methylation level in parental ramets, a hypomethylation event that appears to be maintained in offspring ramets.…”

Nutrient Inputs Alleviate Negative Effects of Early and Subsequent Flooding on Growth of Polygonum hydropiper With the Aid of Adventitious Roots

“…The compensation for biomass loss of offspring plants under stress is not only driven by the environment offspring plants experience, but it can also be driven by their parents (Latzel et al, 2010;Quan et al, 2021). The environmental stress experienced by parental plants can form a kind of "memory, " which affects seeds and the growth performance of offspring plants (Bossdorf et al, 2009;Li et al, 2021;Waterman and Sultan, 2021).…”

Parental UV-B radiation regulates the habitat selection of clonal

“…The effect of parental UV-B on the growth of offspring ramets in a heterogeneous UV-B environment was investigated in our previous studies on Glechoma longituba (Quan et al 2021;Zhang et al 2021). The results suggested that parental UV-B exposure strongly influenced the growth and foraging behaviour of clonal offspring.…”