Gentry, M and Meyer, P (2013) An 11bp region with stem formation potential is essential for de novo DNA methylation of the RPS element. PLoS One, 8 (5). e63652. ISSN 1932-6203
Abstract
The initiation of DNA methylation in Arabidopsis is controlled by the RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) pathway that uses 24nt siRNAs to recruit de novo methyltransferase DRM2 to the target site. We previously described the REPETITIVE PETUNIA SEQUENCE (RPS) fragment that acts as a hot spot for de novo methylation, for which it requires the cooperative activity of all three methyltransferases MET1, CMT3 and DRM2, but not the RdDM pathway. RPS contains two identical 11nt elements in inverted orientation, interrupted by a 18nt spacer, which resembles the features of a stemloop structure. The analysis of deletion/substitution derivatives of this region showed that deletion of one 11nt element RPS is sufficient to eliminate de novo methylation of RPS. In addition, deletion of a 10nt region directly adjacent to one of the 11nt elements, significantly reduced de novo methylation. When both 11nt regions were replaced by two 11nt elements with altered DNA sequence but unchanged inverted repeat homology, DNA methylation was not affected, indicating that de novo methylation was not targeted to a specific DNA sequence element. These data suggest that de novo DNA methylation is attracted by a secondary structure to which the two 11nt elements contribute, and that the adjacent 10nt region influences the stability of this structure. This resembles the recognition of structural features by DNA methyltransferases in animals and suggests that similar mechanisms exist in plants.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2013 Gentry, Meyer. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
Keywords: | Arabidopsis; Base sequence; DNA methylation; Gene expression regulation, plant; Genes, plant; Inverted repeat sequences; Molecular sequence data; Petunia; Sequence analysis, DNA |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Biological Sciences (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 10 Mar 2014 11:32 |
Last Modified: | 29 Mar 2018 04:02 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0063652 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Public Library of Science |
Identification Number: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0063652 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:77979 |