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Review Article|29 Aug 2023|OPEN
DNA cytosine methylation dynamics and functional roles in horticultural crops
Peipei Liu1,5 , Ruie Liu2,5 , Yaping Xu3 and Caixi Zhang2 , Qingfeng Niu1 , , Zhaobo Lang,4 ,
1National Engineering Laboratory of Crop Stress Resistance Breeding, School of Life Sciences, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, 230036, China
2School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
3Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology, National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201602, China
4Institute of Advanced Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
5Co-first authors
*Corresponding author. E-mail: qfniu@ahau.edu.cn,zblang@psc.ac.cn

Horticulture Research 10,
Article number: uhad170 (2023)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/hr/uhad170
Views: 171

Received: 30 Mar 2023
Accepted: 20 Aug 2023
Published online: 29 Aug 2023

Abstract

Methylation of cytosine is a conserved epigenetic modification that maintains the dynamic balance of methylation in plants under the regulation of methyltransferases and demethylases. In recent years, the study of DNA methylation in regulating the growth and development of plants and animals has become a key area of research. This review describes the regulatory mechanisms of DNA cytosine methylation in plants. It summarizes studies on epigenetic modifications of DNA methylation in fruit ripening, development, senescence, plant height, organ size, and under biotic and abiotic stresses in horticultural crops. The review provides a theoretical basis for understanding the mechanisms of DNA methylation and their relevance to breeding, genetic improvement, research, innovation, and exploitation of new cultivars of horticultural crops.