Contrasting epigenetic control of transgenes and endogenous genes promotes post-transcriptional transgene silencing in Arabidopsis.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 33986281.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-021-22995-3 and PMC identifier 8119426.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Transgenes that are stably expressed in plant genomes over many generations could be assumed to behave epigenetically the same as endogenous genes. Here, we report that whereas the histone H3K9me2 demethylase IBM1, but not the histone H3K4me3 demethylase JMJ14, counteracts DNA methylation of Arabidopsis endogenous genes, JMJ14, but not IBM1, counteracts DNA methylation of expressed transgenes. Additionally, JMJ14-mediated specific attenuation of transgene DNA methylation enhances the production of aberrant RNAs that readily induce systemic post-transcriptional transgene silencing (PTGS). Thus, the JMJ14 chromatin modifying complex maintains expressed transgenes in a probationary state of susceptibility to PTGS, suggesting that the host plant genome does not immediately accept expressed transgenes as being epigenetically the same as endogenous genes.
Medical subject headings
- Arabidopsis
- Arabidopsis Proteins
- DNA Methylation
- Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
- Jumonji Domain-Containing Histone Demethylases