DNA and Histone Methylation Regulates Different Types of Fruit Ripening by Transcriptome and Proteome Analyses

Methylation
affects different aspects of genetic material stability,
gene expression regulation, and histone modification. The previous
reports depicted that DNA and histone methylation regulates plant
growth and development. In this study, we evaluated the effects of
DNA and histone methylation on ‘Hongjia’ strawberry
and ‘Lichun’ tomato. We investigated the transient transformation
system for arginine methyltransferase (FvPRMT1.5)
overexpression and interference and assessed the phenotypic appearance
and mRNA and protein expression levels. Results depicted that changes
in methylation levels caused inhibition of carotenoids and anthocyanins.
Furthermore, the profiling of aroma components was altered in response
to 5-azacytidine. DNA hypomethylation induced the expression levels
of genes involved in photosynthesis, flavonoid biosynthesis, and hormone
signal transduction pathways, while the expression levels of related
proteins showed a downward trend. Overall, we proposed a model that
reveals the possible regulatory effects of DNA and histone methylation
during fruit ripening.