Disruption of the plant gene MOM releases transcriptional silencing of methylated genes

Paolo Amedeo, Yoshiki Habu (), Karin Afsar, Ortrun Mittelsten Scheid and Jerzy Paszkowski
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Paolo Amedeo: Friedrich Miescher Institute, PO Box 2543
Yoshiki Habu: Friedrich Miescher Institute, PO Box 2543
Karin Afsar: Friedrich Miescher Institute, PO Box 2543
Ortrun Mittelsten Scheid: Friedrich Miescher Institute, PO Box 2543
Jerzy Paszkowski: Friedrich Miescher Institute, PO Box 2543

Nature, 2000, vol. 405, issue 6783, 203-206

Abstract: Abstract Epigenetic modifications change transcription patterns in multicellular organisms to achieve tissue-specific gene expression and inactivate alien DNA such as transposons or transgenes1,2. In plants and animals, DNA methylation is involved in heritability and flexibility of epigenetic states3, although its function is far from clear. We have isolated an Arabidopsis gene, MOM, whose product is required for the maintenance of transcriptional gene silencing. Mutation of this gene or depletion of its transcript by expression of antisense RNA reactivates transcription from several previously silent, heavily methylated loci. Despite this, the dense methylation at these reactivated loci is maintained even after nine generations, indicating that transcriptional activity and methylation pattern are inherited independently. The predicted MOM gene product is a nuclear protein of 2,001 amino acids containing a region similar to part of the ATPase region of the SWI2/SNF2 family, members of which are involved in chromatin remodelling4. MOM is the first known molecular component that is essential for transcriptional gene silencing and does not affect methylation pattern. Thus, it may act downstream of methylation in epigenetic regulation, or be part of a new pathway that does not require methylation marks.

Date: 2000
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DOI: 10.1038/35012108

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