Inheritance of acquired adaptive cold tolerance in rice through DNA methylation

Epigenetic pathways could provide a mechanistic explanation for the inheritance of acquired characteristics, as proposed by Lamarck in 1802, but epigenetic alterations that endow adaptive hereditary traits have rarely been observed. Here, in cultivated Asian rice (Oryzasativa L.), we identified an epiallele conferring acquired and heritable cold tolerance, an adaptive trait enabling northward spread from its tropical origins. We subjected cold-sensitive rice to multigenerational cold stress and identified a line with acquired stable inheritance of cold tolerance. DNA-hypomethylation variation in the acquiredcoldtolerance 1 (ACT1) promoter region rendered its expression insensitive to cold. This change is, in…

• NU
  Northwestern University
• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 32101654, 32170620, 32330019
• CA
  Chinese Academy of Sciences

  Award: XDA28030100
• NP
  Northwestern Polytechnical University
• MO
  Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China
• CP
  China Postdoctoral Science Foundation

  Award: GZB20240817
• YI
  Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

  Award: Y2022039
• NK
  National Key Research and Development Program of China

  Awards: 2023ZD04073, 2020YFA0509903, 2022YFF1002802, -2022
• IO
  Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
• YI
  Youth Innovation Promotion Association
• IO
  Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

  Award: 2023ZD04073
• IO
  Institute of Genetics