Extrachromosomal circular DNA and structural variants highlight genome instability in Arabidopsis epigenetic mutants

Panpan Zhang, Assane Mbodj, Abirami Soundiramourtty, Christel Llauro, Alain Ghesquière, Mathieu Ingouff, R. Keith Slotkin, Frédéric Pontvianne, Marco Catoni and Marie Mirouze ()
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Panpan Zhang: Laboratory of Plant Genome and Development
Assane Mbodj: Laboratory of Plant Genome and Development
Abirami Soundiramourtty: Laboratory of Plant Genome and Development
Christel Llauro: Laboratory of Plant Genome and Development
Alain Ghesquière: CIRAD
Mathieu Ingouff: CIRAD
R. Keith Slotkin: Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Frédéric Pontvianne: Laboratory of Plant Genome and Development
Marco Catoni: University of Birmingham
Marie Mirouze: Laboratory of Plant Genome and Development

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Abundant extrachromosomal circular DNA (eccDNA) is associated with transposable element (TE) activity. However, how the eccDNA compartment is controlled by epigenetic regulations and what is its impact on the genome is understudied. Here, using long reads, we sequence both the eccDNA compartment and the genome of Arabidopsis thaliana mutant plants affected in DNA methylation and post-transcriptional gene silencing. We detect a high load of TE-derived eccDNA with truncated and chimeric forms. On the genomic side, on top of truncated and full length TE neo-insertions, we detect complex structural variations (SVs) notably at a disease resistance cluster being a natural hotspot of SV. Finally, we serendipitously identify large tandem duplications in hypomethylated plants, suggesting that SVs could have been overlooked in epigenetic mutants. We propose that a high eccDNA load may alter DNA repair pathways leading to genome instability and the accumulation of SVs, at least in plants.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41023-0

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