Work

Extra views on RNA-dependent DNA methylation and MBD6-dependent heterochromatin formation in nucleolar dominance

Year: 2010

Type: article

Abstract: Nucleolar dominance is a widespread epigenetic phenomenon, describing the preferential silencing of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes inherited from one progenitor of an interspecific hybrid, independent of maternal or paternal effects. In the allotetraploid hybrid plant species Arabidopsis suecica, A. thaliana-derived rRNA genes are silenced whereas the A. arenosa-derived rRNA genes are transcribed. We reported previously on an RNAi-based screen of DNA methyltransferases, methylcytosine binding proteins and RNA-dependent DNA methylation pathway proteins that identified specific activities required for the establishment or enforcement of nucleolar dominance. Here we present additional molecular and cell biological evidence that siRNA-directed cytosine methylation and the methylcytosine binding protein MBD6 bring about large-scale chromosomal effects on rRNA gene loci subjected to nucleolar dominance in A. suecica.

Source: Nucleus

DOI: 10.4161/nucl.1.3.11741

Authors: Pedro Costa-Nunes, Olga Pontes, Sasha B. Preuss, Craig S. Pikaard

Institutions: Washington University in St. Louis, Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University

Language: English

Topic: Epigenetics and DNA Methylation

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $1,993

Funders: National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences