Natural occurring epialleles determine vitamin E accumulation in tomato fruits

Leandro Quadrana, Juliana Almeida, Ramon Asís, Tomás Duffy, Pia Guadalupe Dominguez, Luisa Bermúdez, Gabriela Conti, Junia V. Corrêa da Silva, Iris E. Peralta, Vincent Colot, Sebastian Asurmendi, Alisdair R. Fernie, Magdalena Rossi and Fernando Carrari ()
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Leandro Quadrana: Instituto de Biotecnología, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Juliana Almeida: Universidade de São Paulo
Ramon Asís: CIBICI, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
Tomás Duffy: Instituto de Biotecnología, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Pia Guadalupe Dominguez: Instituto de Biotecnología, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Luisa Bermúdez: Instituto de Biotecnología, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Gabriela Conti: Instituto de Biotecnología, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Junia V. Corrêa da Silva: Universidade de São Paulo
Iris E. Peralta: Cátedra de Botánica Agrícola. Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad Nacional del Cuyo
Vincent Colot: Ecole Normale Supérieure, Institut de Biologie (IBENS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), UMR 8197, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) U 1024
Sebastian Asurmendi: Instituto de Biotecnología, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Alisdair R. Fernie: Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology, Wissenschaftspark Gölm, Am Mühlenberg 1
Magdalena Rossi: Universidade de São Paulo
Fernando Carrari: Instituto de Biotecnología, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Vitamin E (VTE) content is a low heritability nutritional trait for which the genetic determinants are poorly understood. Here, we focus on a previously detected major tomato VTE quantitative trait loci (QTL; mQTL9-2-6) and identify the causal gene as one encoding a 2-methyl-6-phytylquinol methyltransferase (namely VTE3(1)) that catalyses one of the final steps in the biosynthesis of γ- and α-tocopherols, which are the main forms of VTE. By reverse genetic approaches, expression analyses, siRNA profiling and DNA methylation assays, we demonstrate that mQTL9-2-6 is an expression QTL associated with differential methylation of a SINE retrotransposon located in the promoter region of VTE3(1). Promoter DNA methylation can be spontaneously reverted leading to different epialleles affecting VTE3(1) expression and VTE content in fruits. These findings indicate therefore that naturally occurring epialleles are responsible for regulation of a nutritionally important metabolic QTL and provide direct evidence of a role for epigenetics in the determination of agronomic traits.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5027

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