DNA methylation in plants

• Published in: Annual review of plant biology Vol. 49; no. 1; pp. 223 - 247
• Main Authors: Finnegan, E.J. (Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.), Genger, R.K, Peacock, W.J, Dennis, E.S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Annual Reviews, Inc 01.06.1998
• Subjects: ADN; AMINO ACID SEQUENCES; ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA; CHEMICAL COMPOSITION; CITOSINA; COMPOSICION QUIMICA; COMPOSITION CHIMIQUE; CYTOSINE; DNA; DNA REPLICATION; ENDOSPERM; ENDOSPERMA; ENDOSPERME; ETAPAS DE DESARROLLO DE LA PLANTA; EXPRESION GENICA; EXPRESSION DES GENES; FENOTIPOS; GENE EXPRESSION; GENETIC REGULATION; GENETICA; GENETICS; GENETIQUE; LITERATURE REVIEWS; METHYLATION; METILACION; PHENOTYPE; PHENOTYPES; PLANT DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES; REPLICACION; REPLICATION; STADE DE DEVELOPPEMENT VEGETAL; TRANSFERASAS; TRANSFERASE; TRANSFERASES
• ISSN: 1040-2519; 1543-5008; 2331-0960; 1545-2123
• DOI: 10.1146/annurev.arplant.49.1.223

Methylation of cytosine residues in DNA provides a mechanism of gene control. There are two classes of methyltransferase in Arabidopsis; one has a carboxy-terminal methyltransferase domain fused to an amino-terminal regulatory domain and is similar to mammalian methyltransferases. The second class apparently lacks an amino-terminal domain and is less well conserved. Methylcytosine can occur at any cytosine residue, but it is likely that clonal transmission of methylation patterns only occurs for cytosines in strand-symmetrical sequences CpG and CpNpG. In plants, as in mammals, DNA methylation has dual roles in defense against invading DNA and transposable elements and in gene regulation. Although originally reported as having no phenotypic consequence, reduced DNA methylation disrupts normal plant development.