%0 Journal Article
%T DNA methylation mediates overgrazing-induced clonal transgenerational plasticity.
%A Yin J
%A Ren W
%A Fry EL
%A Sun S
%A Han H
%A Guo F
%J Sci Total Environ
%V 897
%N 0
%D 2023 Nov 1
%M 37414175
%F 10.753
%R 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165338
%X Overgrazing generally induces dwarfism in grassland plants, and these phenotypic traits could be transmitted to clonal offspring even when overgrazing is excluded. However, the dwarfism-transmitted mechanism remains largely unknown, despite generally thought to be enabled by epigenetic modification. To clarify the potential role of DNA methylation on clonal transgenerational effects, we conducted a greenhouse experiment with Leymus chinensis clonal offspring from different cattle/sheep overgrazing histories via the demethylating agent 5-azacytidine. The results showed that clonal offspring from overgrazed (by cattle or sheep) parents were dwarfed and the auxin content of leaves significantly decreased compared to offspring from no-grazed parents'. The 5-azaC application generally increased the auxin content and promoted the growth of overgrazed offspring while inhibited no-grazed offspring growth. Meanwhile, there were similar trends in the expression level of genes related to auxin-responsive target genes (ARF7, ARF19), and signal transduction gene (AZF2). These results suggest that DNA methylation leads to overgrazing-induced plant transgenerational dwarfism via inhibiting auxin signal pathway.