AUTHOR=Nugroho Adji Baskoro Dwi , Kim Sujeong , Lee Sang Woo , Kim Dong-Hwan 

TITLE=Transcriptomic and epigenomic analyses revealed that polycomb repressive complex 2 regulates not only developmental but also stress responsive metabolism in Brassica rapa

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2023.1079218

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2023.1079218

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Polycomb group proteins (PcG) play a crucial role in developmental programs in eukaryotic organisms, including plants. PcG-mediated gene repression is achieved by epigenetic histone modification on target chromatins. Loss of PcG components leads to severe developmental defects. CURLY LEAF (CLF), a PcG component in <italic>Arabidopsis</italic>, catalyzes the trimethylation of histone H3 on lysine 27 (H3K27me3), a repressive histone mark in numerous genes in <italic>Arabidopsis</italic>. In this study, we isolated a single homolog of <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> CLF, namely, BrCLF, in <italic>Brassica rapa</italic> ssp. <italic>trilocularis</italic>. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that BrCLF participated in <italic>B. rapa</italic> developmental processes, such as seed dormancy, leaf and flower organ development, and floral transition. BrCLF was also involved in stress signaling and stress-responsive metabolism, such as aliphatic and indolic glucosinolate metabolism in <italic>B. rapa</italic>. Epigenome analysis showed that H3K27me3 was substantially enriched in genes related to these developmental and stress-responsive processes. Thus, this study provided a basis for elucidating the molecular mechanism of the PcG-mediated regulation of development and stress responses in <italic>B. rapa</italic>.</p>