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Mutation of a major CG methylase in rice causes genome-wide hypomethylation, dysregulated genome expression, and seedling lethality.
- Source :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America; 7/22/2014, Vol. 111 Issue 29, p10642-40647, 6p
- Publication Year :
- 2014
-
Abstract
- Cytosine methylation at CG sites (<superscript>m</superscript>CG) plays critical roles in development, epigenetic inheritance, and genome stability in mammals and plants. In the dicot model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, methyltransferase 1 (MET1), a principal CG methylase, functions to maintain mCG during DNA replication, with its null mutation resulting in global hypomethylation and pleiotropic developmental defects. Null mutation of a critical CG methylase has not been characterized at a whole-genome level in other higher eukaryotes, leaving the generality of the Arabidopsis findings largely speculative. Rice is a model plant of monocots, to which many of our important crops belong. Here we have characterized a null mutant of OsMet1-2, the major CG methylase in rice. We found that seeds homozygous for OsMet1-2 gene mutation (OsMET1-2<superscript>-/-</superscript>), which directly segregated from normal heterozygote plants (OsMET1-2<superscript>+/-</superscript>), were seriously maldeveloped, and all germinated seedlings underwent swift necrotic death. Compared with wild type, genome-wide loss of <superscript>m</superscript>CG occurred in the mutant methylome, which was accompanied by a plethora of quantitative molecular phenotypes including dysregulated expression of diverse protein-coding genes, activation and repression of transposable elements, and altered small RNA profiles. Our results have revealed conservation but also distinct functional differences in CG methylases between rice and Arabidopsis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00278424
- Volume :
- 111
- Issue :
- 29
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 97266430
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1410761111