Bursts of retrotransposition reproduced in Arabidopsis

Sayuri Tsukahara, Akie Kobayashi, Akira Kawabe, Olivier Mathieu, Asuka Miura and Tetsuji Kakutani ()
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Sayuri Tsukahara: National Institute of Genetics, Yata 1111, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan
Akie Kobayashi: National Institute of Genetics, Yata 1111, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan
Akira Kawabe: National Institute of Genetics, Yata 1111, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan
Olivier Mathieu: University of Geneva, Sciences III, 30 Quai Ernest-Ansermet, CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
Asuka Miura: National Institute of Genetics, Yata 1111, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan
Tetsuji Kakutani: National Institute of Genetics, Yata 1111, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan

Nature, 2009, vol. 461, issue 7262, 423-426

Abstract: Genome structure: controlled retrotransposition Retrotransposons are mobile genetic elements constituting above 40 and 60% of the human and maize genomes, respectively, and their activity is thought to accelerate the evolution of host chromosomes. To disperse through the genome, retrotransposons must first be transcribed into RNA. The methylation of DNA prevents transcription, and is a means by which retrotransposon movement is suppressed. Tsukahara et al. show that in Arabidopsis plants with defective DNA methylation, several types of retrotransposon are activated, and frequently target to the centromeric DNA, which is presumably less harmful than insertion into genes. In a second study, Mirouze et al. also looked at retrotransposition in Arabidopsis. They report that although DNA methylation is associated with the suppression of transposon-derived transcriptions, transposition remains suppressed after transcriptional reactivation due to the epigenetic activity of a plant-specific RNA polymerase, pol IV/V, and a histone methyltransferase, KYP. This mechanism appears to be specific for a particular element known as Évadé — which is a member of the ATCOPIA93 family and is related to one of the four long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons described by Tsukahara et al.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature08351

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