Epigenetic reprogramming and small RNA silencing of transposable elements in pollen

By R. K. Slotkin, M. Vaughn, Filipe Borges, M. Tanurdžić, J. Becker, José A. Feijó, R. Martienssen. Cell, 2009

1,034 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Summary The mutagenic activity of transposable elements (TEs) is suppressed by epigenetic silencing and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), especially in gametes that would transmit transposed elements to the next generation. In pollen from the model plant Arabidopsis, we show that TEs are unexpectedly reactivated and transpose, but only in the pollen vegetative nucleus, which accompanies the sperm cells but does not provide DNA to the fertilized zygote. TE expression coincides with down-regulation of the heterochromatin remodeler DECREASE IN DNA METHYLATION 1 and of most TE siRNAs. However, 21 nucleotide siRNA from Athila retrotransposons is generated in pollen and accumulates in sperm, indicating that siRNA from TEs activated in the vegetative nucleus can target silencing in gametes. We propose a conserved role for reprogramming in germline companion cells, such as nurse cells in insects and vegetative nuclei in plants, to reveal intact TEs in the genome and regulate their activity in gametes.

Subfields: Molecular Biology, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/80bd8a1616c7a6b6cf52ffdd9c7f510c17f2fa0b

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Citations in the corpus

Transgenerational Epigenetic Inheritance: myths and mechanisms (2014, neutral): “Companion cell reprogramming results in transposon activation and the accumulation of small RNA in the gametes (Figure 2B), which reinforces both imprinting and transposon silencing in the germline (Hsieh et al., 2009; Slotkin et al., 2009).”
Widespread dynamic DNA methylation in response to biotic stress (2012, background): “Curiously, these smRNAs are indistinguishable from the mobile epigenetically activated siRNAs in pollen (36).”
Comprehending crystalline β-carotene accumulation by comparing engineered cell models and the natural carotenoid-rich system of citrus (2011, neutral): “Multiple alignments of the amino”
Understanding transgenerational epigenetic inheritance via the gametes in mammals (2012, background): “For example, a recent study in Arabidopsis thaliana has found a population of siRNAs from Athila retrotransposons generated in the vegetative nucleus of pollen that may have a role in silencing the Athila retrotransposons in the adjacent sperm cell”
Spontaneous epigenetic variation in the Arabidopsis thaliana methylome (2011, background): “A first major insight from our analyses is that transgenerational maintenance of CG methylation in transposable elements is apparently much more stable than CG methylation of protein-coding genes, consistent with DNA methylation being more important for controlling the activity of transposable eleme”
Establishing, maintaining and modifying DNA methylation patterns in plants and animals (2010, background): “thaliana , these changes may reinforce transposon silencing in the sperm and egg cell”