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PMID: 12169664 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

RNA-directed DNA methylation in Arabidopsis.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ·Vol. 99 Suppl 4 ·2002-12-10 ·Pages 16499-506

Aufsatz W, Mette MF, van der Winden J, Matzke AJ, Matzke M

Abstract

In plants, double-stranded RNA that is processed to short RNAs approximately 21-24 nt in length can trigger two types of epigenetic gene silencing. Posttranscriptional gene silencing, which is related to RNA interference in animals and quelling in fungi, involves targeted elimination of homologous mRNA in the cytoplasm. RNA-directed DNA methylation involves de novo methylation of almost all cytosine residues within a region of RNA-DNA sequence identity. RNA-directed DNA methylation is presumed to be responsible for the methylation observed in protein coding regions of posttranscriptionally silenced genes. Moreover, a type of transcriptional gene silencing and de novo methylation of homologous promoters in trans can occur if a double-stranded RNA contains promoter sequences. Although RNA-directed DNA methylation has been described so far only in plants, there is increasing evidence that RNA can also target genome modifications in other organisms. To understand how RNA directs methylation to identical DNA sequences and how changes in chromatin configuration contribute to initiating or maintaining DNA methylation induced by RNA, a promoter double-stranded RNA-mediated transcriptional gene silencing system has been established in Arabidopsis. A genetic analysis of this system is helping to unravel the relationships among RNA signals, DNA methylation, and chromatin structure.

MeSH Terms
Arabidopsis/genetics Base Sequence DNA Methylation DNA, Plant Molecular Sequence Data Promoter Regions, Genetic RNA, Plant/physiology Transgenes
Chemicals
DNA, Plant RNA, Plant
Authors & Affiliations
5 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Aufsatz Werner
Institute of Molecular Biology, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Billrothstrasse 11, A-5020 Salzburg, Austria.
Mette M Florian
van der Winden Johannes
Matzke Antonius J M
Matzke Marjori
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Article Info
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Abbr.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
ISSN
0027-8424
DOI
10.1073/pnas.162371499
Published
2002-12-10
Epub
2002-00-08
Pages
16499-506
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
7505876
PMCID
PMC139914
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1073/pnas.162371499 PMC Full Text View journal details
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