Editorial: Crop breeding involving epigenetic inheritance

概要

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Editorial: Crop breeding involving epigenetic
inheritance

Raboy, Victor
Fujimoto, Ryo
(Citation)
Frontiers in Plant Science,14:1239713

(Issue Date)
2023-07-20

(Resource Type)
journal article

(Version)
Version of Record

(Rights)
© 2023 Raboy and Fujimoto.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is
permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited a…
that
the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted
(URL)
academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14094/0100483314
comply with these terms.

Editorial
20 July 2023
DOI 10.3389/fpls.2023.1239713
TYPE

PUBLISHED

OPEN ACCESS

Editorial: Crop breeding
involving epigenetic inheritance

EDITED AND REVIEWED BY

Satish Kumar,
Indian Council of Agricultural Research
(ICAR), India
*CORRESPONDENCE

Victor Raboy
vraboy@gmail.com
Ryo Fujimoto
leo@people.kobe-u.ac.jp
13 June 2023
12 July 2023
PUBLISHED 20 July 2023

Victor Raboy 1* and Ryo Fujimoto 2*
1
Independent Researcher, Portland, OR, United States, 2 Graduate School of Agricultural Science,
Kobe University, Kobe, Japan

KEYWORDS

crop breeding, agronomic traits, epigenetics, yield stability, stress tolerance

RECEIVED

ACCEPTED

CITATION

Raboy V and Fujimoto R (2023) Editorial:
Crop breeding involving
epigenetic inheritance.
Front. Plant Sci. 14:1239713.
doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1239713
COPYRIGHT

© 2023 Raboy and Fujimoto. This is an
open-access article distributed under the
terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
License (CC BY). The use, distribution or
reproduction in other forums is permitted,
provided the original author(s) and the
copyright owner(s) are credited and that
the original publication in this journal is
cited, in accordance with accepted
academic practice. No use, distribution or
reproduction is permitted which does not
comply with these terms.

Frontiers in Plant Science

Editorial on the Research Topic
Crop breeding involving epigenetic inheritance

It has become clear that epigenetic variation contributes to the inheritance of valuable
traits in crop plants (Figure 1). This has led to many studies of the molecular mechanisms
underlying epigenetic variation and its inheritance. However, there have been relatively few
reports of translation of this new science to successful crop breeding. This Research Topic
contains five papers, but only one of which is a research report describing the
implementation of epigenetics as a tool in crop breeding (Ketumile et al.). Of the
remainder, two are reviews (Tonosaki et al.; Gupta and Salgotra), and two are analyses
that describe the contribution of epigenetics to a pre-existing trait or a hybrid (Chen et al.;
Ma et al.). This reflects the current status of the literature in the field: there are a great
number of reviews that extol the potential of epigenetics in crop breeding, and an even
greater number of papers that describe the molecular biology behind previously known
epigenetic traits, however there are very few research reports describing the novel
implementation of epigenetics to crop breeding, whether it be successful or not.
Ketumile et al. describe recent progress in the application of a strategy that takes
advantage of the positive impact on yield resulting from the increase in de novo epigenetic
variation that in turn results from suppression of MSH1 (MutS Homolog 1). Working with
Sorghum bicolor, following RNAi-mediated suppression of MSH1 and identification of
RNAi-null progeny, the authors found that in the absence of any selection, the enhanced
epigenetic variation resulted in a 10% yield boost under ideal field conditions and a 20%
increase under “extreme low nitrogen” conditions. Furthermore, the authors report earlystage selection resulted in yield boosts of 36% under ideal field conditions and 64% under
marginal field conditions. These exciting results clearly illustrate the potential for
epigenetics in crop breeding and production. But perhaps more importantly, they
illustrate that breeding that targets genome-wide epigenetic variation can sizably
increase stability of crop yields across diverse production environments. This finding
may in the end prove of great value for maintaining crop production during an era of
climate change that results in increasingly challenging production environments.
Chen et al. elucidated the molecular mechanisms underlying enhanced Fe-deficiency
response in the naturally-occurring tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) epimutant Cnr
(Colorless non-ripening). This work demonstrated that in addition to other previously
identified functions such as in fruit ripening, SlSPL-CNR (Solanum lycopersicum Sauamosa
promoter-binding protein-like) is a novel regulator of Fe-deficiency response and identified

01

frontiersin.org

Raboy and Fujimoto

10.3389/fpls.2023.1239713

FIGURE 1

Crop breeding involving epigenetic inheritance: past, present and future.

appreciation for transgenerational adaptation in response to stress
may lead to strategies to use this phenomenon in crop production.
These advances could prove critically important to enhancing and
stabilizing crop yields in this era of climate change and increasing
scarcity of resources.

Fe-deficiency responsive genes. Ma et al. added to the growing
understanding of the role of epigenetics in the phenomenon of
heterosis in crops, in particular with respect to allopolyploid crops.
They found that in Brassica napus, differential parental
transcriptome programming and histone modification when
transmitted to offspring contributed to hybrid vigor.
Both Tonosaki et al. and Gupta and Salgotra provide thorough
reviews of the molecular mechanisms underlying epigenetic traits in
crops and provide lists of known cases of crop traits conditioned by
epigenetic variation. These reviews contribute to the growing
appreciation of the potential for enhanced crop breeding resulting
from enhanced understanding of epigenetics. Beyond that, Tonosaki
et al. also introduce an important distinction: that of the role of
epigenetics in crop breeding versus crop production (Figure 1).
Perhaps the role of epigenetics in crop breeding requires inheritance
over multiple generations whereas a more short-term phenomenon like
transgenerational adaptation to stress may play an important role in
enhancing crop production across diverse environments.
In summary, it is likely that over the next decade or two the
potential of the growing knowledge of epigenetics that underpins
crop traits and productivity will be more fully realized, providing
enhanced productivity and quality across diverse production
environments. The growing understanding of the role of
epigenetics in hybrid vigor will lead to updated strategies for
hybrid seed production, such as updated approaches for selection
of inbreds, or other approaches to generate beneficial novel
epigenetic variation. Papers describing CRISPR-like targeting for
epigenetic modification of selected target genes of agronomic or
horticultural value will become more common. Similarly, enhanced

Frontiers in Plant Science

Author contributions
All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and
intellectual contribution to the work and approved it
for publication.

Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the
absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be
construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note
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