S01 - Session P7 - Genetic and epigenetic regulation of dormancy in Prunus avium L.: Designing a conceptual model

Authors: Esteban Soto *, Eduardo Fernandez, Erica Fadon, Eike Luedeling

Global warming has a major impact on the phenology of temperate tree crops and their potential yields. The timing of tree phenology traits responds to winter and spring temperatures, and major changes have been observed caused by rising temperatures in a climate change context. In particular in Chile, growers have recently experienced substantial dormancy-related yields losses. In Germany, severe cases of frost damage are increasingly frequent due to advances in phenology caused by warm spells early in spring. Dormancy processes are regulated by the expression of genes responsible for the dormant phenotype. Epigenetic modifications, in the form of DNA methylation, post-translational modifications of histones, chromatin re-modeling and mechanisms based on small RNAs (sRNAs), play a major role in dormancy regulation. Numerous studies have focused on the epigenetic of dormancy in several species and agroclimatic regions, thus a large puzzle of information is currently available. We aim to present a conceptual model for the kinetics of the expression of key genes, sRNAs and levels of DNA methylation that integrates the current status of knowledge on epigenetic regulation of dormancy. This conceptual model will serve as a framework for the design of subsequent experiments on the epigenetic regulation of dormancy.