A transposon-induced epigenetic change leads to sex determination in melon

Antoine Martin, Christelle Troadec, Adnane Boualem, Mazen Rajab, Ronan Fernandez, Halima Morin, Michel Pitrat, Catherine Dogimont and Abdelhafid Bendahmane ()
Additional contact information
Christelle Troadec: INRA-CNRS, UMR1165, Unité de Recherche en Génomique Végétale, 2 rue Gaston Crémieux, F-91057 Evry, France
Adnane Boualem: INRA-CNRS, UMR1165, Unité de Recherche en Génomique Végétale, 2 rue Gaston Crémieux, F-91057 Evry, France
Mazen Rajab: INRA-CNRS, UMR1165, Unité de Recherche en Génomique Végétale, 2 rue Gaston Crémieux, F-91057 Evry, France
Ronan Fernandez: INRA-CNRS, UMR1165, Unité de Recherche en Génomique Végétale, 2 rue Gaston Crémieux, F-91057 Evry, France
Halima Morin: Plateforme de Cytologie et d’Imagerie Végétale, Institut Jean Pierre Bourgin, INRA, 78026 Versailles Cedex, France
Michel Pitrat: INRA, UR 1052, Unité de Génétique et d’Amélioration des Fruits et Légumes, BP 94, F-84143 Montfavet, France
Catherine Dogimont: INRA, UR 1052, Unité de Génétique et d’Amélioration des Fruits et Légumes, BP 94, F-84143 Montfavet, France
Abdelhafid Bendahmane: INRA-CNRS, UMR1165, Unité de Recherche en Génomique Végétale, 2 rue Gaston Crémieux, F-91057 Evry, France

Nature, 2009, vol. 461, issue 7267, 1135-1138

Abstract: Epigenetic changes determine sex in melon During the development of flowering plants, sex determination leads to the physical separation of male and female flowers from an originally bisexual floral meristem. Here, in melon, the transition from male to female flowers is shown to result from epigenetic changes in the promoter of a transcription factor, CmWIP1. These epigenetic changes are caused by insertion of a neighbouring transposon, which is required for initiation and maintenance of DNA methylation that spreads to the CmWIP1 promoter resulting in silencing of the gene. A model for the development of male, female and hermaphrodite flowers is proposed.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature08498

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