Research advances in histone modification-regulated plant stress memory and defense priming.

Abstract

Plants, grown in the immobile soils, have evolved various strategies in response to environmental stresses, including the "stress memory" and "defense priming" mechanisms. The environmental stresses cannot immediately change the DNA base sequence in plants in the short-term. Therefore, epigenetic inheritance is a key mechanism for stress memory and defense priming. In particular, histone modification is considered to be the most important mechanism, which offers the possibility of stress memory. We summarized research advances in plant histone modifications involved in stress memory and defense priming under biotic and abiotic stresses, and proposed pro-blems in the field and the focus and directions in the future research. In-depth understanding of the relationship between histone modification and environmental stresses would facilitate the quick adaptation of plants to harsh environments, and provide theoretical and technical guidance for plant phenotype shaping, organ regeneration, and crop genetic improvement.