The Arabidopsis active demethylase ROS1 <i>cis</i>-regulates defence genes by erasing DNA methylation at promoter-regulatory regions.

Abstract

Active DNA demethylation has emerged as an important regulatory process of plant and mammalian immunity. However, very little is known about the mechanisms by which active demethylation controls transcriptional immune reprogramming and disease resistance. Here, we first show that the Arabidopsis active demethylase ROS1 promotes basal resistance towards <i>Pseudomonas syringae</i> by antagonizing RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM). Furthermore, we demonstrate that ROS1 facilitates the flagellin-triggered induction of the disease resistance gene <i>RMG1</i> by limiting RdDM at the 3' boundary of a transposable element (TE)-derived repeat embedded in its promoter. We further identify flagellin-responsive ROS1 putative primary targets and show that at a subset of promoters, ROS1 erases methylation at discrete regions exhibiting WRKY transcription factors (TFs) binding. In particular, we demonstrate that ROS1 removes methylation at the orphan immune receptor <i>RLP43</i> promoter, to ensure DNA binding of WRKY TFs. Finally, we show that ROS1-directed demethylation of <i>RMG1</i> and <i>RLP43</i> promoters is causal for both flagellin responsiveness of these genes and for basal resistance. Overall, these findings significantly advance our understanding of how active demethylases shape transcriptional immune reprogramming to enable antibacterial resistance.