Transgenerational increases in DNA methylation in Arabidopsis plants defective in active DNA demethylation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Tang, Kai; Zhu, Xiaohong; Xie, Shaojun; Lang, Zhaobo; Zhu, Jian-Kang
• 署名单位: Purdue University System; Purdue University; Henan University; Henan University; Purdue University System; Purdue University; Southern University of Science & Technology; Southern University of Science & Technology
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-10257
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2320468121
• 发表日期: 2024-05-28
• 关键词: epigenetic mutation

摘要

Spontaneous gain or loss of DNA methylation occurs in plant and animal genomes, and DNA methylation changes can lead to meiotically stable epialleles that generate heritable phenotypic diversity. However, it is unclear whether transgenerational epigenetic stability may be regulated by any cellular factors. Here, we examined spontaneously occurring variations in DNA methylation in wild - type and ros1 mutant Arabidopsis plants that were propagated for ten generations from single - seed descent. We found that the ros1 mutant, which is defective in active DNA demethylation, showed an increased transgenerational epimutation rate. The ros1 mutation led to more spontaneously gained methylation than lost methylation at individual cytosines, compared to the wild type which had similar numbers of spontaneously gained and lost methylation cytosines. Consistently, transgenerational differentially methylated regions were also biased toward hypermethylation in the ros1 mutant. Our results reveal a genetic contribution of the ROS1 DNA demethylase to transgenerational epigenetic stability and suggest that ROS1 may have an unexpected surveillance function in preventing transgenerational DNA methylation increases.