Rice melatonin deficiency causes premature leaf senescence via DNA methylation regulation

• DOI: 10.1016/j.cj.2024.04.004
• Publication Date: 2024-05-13T15:51:17Z
• Authors: Yue Lu; Ahmed Gharib; Rujia Chen; Hanyao Wang; Tianyun Tao; Zhihao Zuo; Qing Bu; Yanze Su; Yaoqing Li; Yanmo Luo; Hamdi F. El-Mowafi; Zhichao Wang; Qianfeng Huang; Shuting Wang; Yang Xu; Pengcheng Li; Chenwu Xu; Zefeng Yang
• Keywords: 0303 health sciences; 03 medical and health sciences; DNA methylation; S; Agriculture (General); Agriculture; Rice; Premature leaf senescence; Melatonin; Epigenetic regulation; S1-972

In a study of DNA methylation changes in melatonin-deficient rice mutants, mutant plants showed premature leaf senescence during grain-filling and reduced grain yield. Melatonin deficiency led to transcriptional reprogramming, especially of genes involved in chlorophyll and carbon metabolism, redox regulation, and transcriptional regulation, during dark-induced leaf senescence. Hypomethylation of mCG and mCHG in the melatonin-deficient rice mutants was associated with the expression change of both protein-coding genes and transposable element-related genes. Changes in gene expression and DNA methylation in the melatonin-deficient mutants were compensated by exogenous application of melatonin. A decreased S-adenosyl-L-methionine level may have contributed to the DNA methylation variations in rice mutants of melatonin deficiency under dark conditions.