Polycomb‐group histone methyltransferase CLF is required for proper somatic recombination in Arabidopsis. Issue 6 (1st April 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chen, Na; Zhou, Wang‐Bin; Wang, Ying‐Xiang; Dong, Ai‐Wu; Yu, Yu
• Is Part Of: Journal of integrative plant biology. Volume 56:Issue 6(2014)
• Page Start: 550
• Page End: 558
• Publication Date: 2014-04-01
• Subjects: Plants -- Periodicals; Plants -- China -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 580.5
• DOI: 10.1111/jipb.12157
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1672-9072

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="jipb12157-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <p>Homologous recombination (HR) is a key process during meiosis in reproductive cells and the DNA damage repair process in somatic cells. Although chromatin structure is thought to be crucial for HR, only a small number of chromatin modifiers have been studied in HR regulation so far. Here, we investigated the function of <italic>CURLY LEAF</italic> (<italic>CLF</italic>), a Polycomb‐group (PcG) gene responsible for histone3 lysine 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3), in somatic and meiotic HR in <italic>Arabidopsis thaliana</italic>. Although fluorescent protein reporter assays in pollen and seeds showed that the frequency of meiotic cross‐over in the loss‐of‐function mutant <italic>clf‐29</italic> was not significantly different from that in wild type, there was a lower frequency of HR in <italic>clf‐29</italic> than in wild type under normal conditions and under bleomycin treatment. The DNA damage levels were comparable between <italic>clf‐29</italic> and wild type, even though several DNA damage repair genes (e.g. <italic>ATM</italic>, <italic>BRCA2a</italic>, <italic>RAD50</italic>, <italic>RAD51</italic>, <italic>RAD54</italic>, and <italic>PARP2</italic>) were expressed at lower levels in <italic>clf‐29</italic>. Under bleomycin treatment, the expression levels of DNA repair genes were similar in <italic>clf‐29</italic> and wild type, thus <italic>CLF</italic> may also regulate HR via other mechanisms. These findings expand the current knowledge of PcG function and contribute to general interests of epigenetic regulation in genome stability regulation.</p> </sec> </abstract>