FERTILIZATION-INDEPENDENT SEED-Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 Plays a Dual Role in Regulating Type I MADS-Box Genes in Early Endosperm Development. Issue 1 (9th March 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Shanshan; Wang, Dongfang; Zhang, Huajian; Skaggs, Megan I.; Lloyd, Alan; Ran, Di; An, Lingling; Schumaker, Karen S.; Drews, Gary N.; Yadegari, Ramin
• Is Part Of: Plant physiology. Volume 177:Issue 1(2018)
• Page Start: 285
• Page End: 299
• Publication Date: 2018-03-09
• Subjects: Plant physiology -- Periodicals; Botany -- Periodicals; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 571.2
• DOI: 10.1104/pp.17.00534
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0032-0889

Abstract

Abstract : A chromatin regulatory complex displays two modes of action in regulating the gene expression of a subclade of a transcription factor family during early endosperm development in Arabidopsis. Abstract: Early endosperm development presents a unique system in which to uncover epigenetic regulatory mechanisms because the contributing maternal and paternal genomes possess differential epigenetic modifications. In Arabidopsis ( Arabidopsis thaliana ), the initiation of endosperm coenocytic growth upon fertilization and the transition to endosperm cellularization are regulated by the FERTILIZATION-INDEPENDENT SEED (FIS)-Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2), a putative H3K27 methyltransferase. Here, we address the possible role of the FIS-PRC2 complex in regulating the type I MADS-box gene family, which has been shown previously to regulate early endosperm development. We show that a subclass of type I MADS-box genes (C2 genes) was expressed in distinct domains of the coenocytic endosperm in wild-type seeds. Furthermore, the C2 genes were mostly up-regulated biallelically during the extended coenocytic phase of endosperm development in the FIS-PRC2 mutant background. Using allele-specific expression analysis, we also identified a small subset of C2 genes subjected to FIS-PRC2-dependent maternal or FIS-PRC2-independent paternal imprinting. Our data support a dual role for the FIS-PRC2 complex in the regulation of C2 type I MADS-box genes, as evidenced by a generalized role in the repression of gene expression at both alleles associated with endosperm cellularization and a specialized role in silencing the maternal allele of imprinted genes.