Using advanced gene-editing technology, a team of scientists found that DNA demethylation is required for the tomato ripening process through both activation of induced genes and the inhibition of ripening-repressed genes.
Most studies on DNA demethylation have focused on it solely as a gene activation mechanism, said Jian-Kang Zhu, the lead researcher and distinguished professor of horticulture and landscape architecture at Purdue University.
“The findings of this study were very surprising because most studies have pointed to how demethylation functions to activate a gene,” he said. “This study found many genes that were activated by methylation or silenced by demethylation, contrary to the well-known function of demethylation.”
The research findings, which were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could lead to a better understanding of how DNA methylation is involved in fruit ripening, said Zhaobo Lang, principal investigator at Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology and a doctoral graduate of Purdue University.