Data from: Climate-dependent variation in cold tolerance of weedy rice and rice mediated by OsICE1 promoter methylation

<div class="WordSection1"> <p><span><span><span><span>The mechanisms by which weedy rice (<i>Oryza sativa</i> f. <i>spontanea</i>) has adapted to endure low-temperature stress in northern latitudes remain unresolved. In this study, we assessed cold tolerance of 100 rice varieties and 100 co-occurring weedy rice populations, which were sampled across a broad range of climates in China. A parallel pattern of latitude-dependent variation in cold tolerance was detected in cultivated rice and weedy rice. At the molecular level, differential cold tolerance was strongly correlated with relative expression levels of <i>CBF</i> cold response pathway genes and with methylation levels in the promoter region of <i>OsICE1</i>, a regulator of this pathway. Among all methylated cytosine sites of the <i>OsICE1</i> promoter, levels of CHG and CHH methylation were found to be significantly correlated with cold tolerance among accessions. Furthermore, within many of the collection locales, weedy rice shared identical or near-identical <i>OsICE1 </i>methylation patterns with co-occurring cultivated rice. These findings provide new insights on the possible roles that methylation variation in the <i>OsICE1</i> promoter may play in cold tolerance, and they suggest that weedy rice can rapidly acquire cold tolerance via methylation patterns that are shared with co-occurring rice cultivars. </span></span></span></span></p> </div> <p> </p>