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Current Protein & Peptide Science

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 1389-2037
ISSN (Online): 1875-5550

Review Article

Epigenetic Signals on Plant Adaptation: a Biotic Stress Perspective

Author(s): Jose Ribamar Costa Ferreira Neto, Manasses Daniel da Silva, Valesca Pandolfi, Sergio Crovella, Ana Maria Benko-Iseppon and Ederson Akio Kido

Volume 18, Issue 4, 2017

Page: [352 - 367] Pages: 16

DOI: 10.2174/1389203717666160724194653

Price: $65

Abstract

For sessile organisms such as plants, regulatory mechanisms of gene expression are vital, since they remain exposed to climatic and biological threats. Thus, they have to face hazards with instantaneous reorganization of their internal environment. For this purpose, besides the use of transcription factors, the participation of chromatin as an active factor in the regulation of transcription is crucial. Chemical changes in chromatin structure affect the accessibility of the transcriptional machinery and acting in signaling, engaging/inhibiting factors that participate in the transcription processes. Mechanisms in which gene expression undergoes changes without the occurrence of DNA gene mutations in the monomers that make up DNA, are understood as epigenetic phenomena. These include (1) post-translational modifications of histones, which results in stimulation or repression of gene activity and (2) cytosine methylation in the promoter region of individual genes, both preventing access of transcriptional activators as well as signaling the recruitment of repressors. There is evidence that such modifications can pass on to subsequent generations of daughter cells and even generations of individuals. However, reports indicate that they persist only in the presence of a stressor factor (or an inductor of the above-mentioned modifications). In its absence, these modifications weaken or lose heritability, being eliminated in the next few generations. In this review, it is argued how epigenetic signals influence gene regulation, the mechanisms involved and their participation in processes of resistance to biotic stresses, controlling processes of the plant immune system.

Keywords: Chromatin remodeling, histone modifications, inheritance, microRNA, siRNA.

Graphical Abstract

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