Involvement of a Jumonji-C domain-containing histone demethylase in DRM2-mediated maintenance of DNA methylation

• Published in: EMBO reports Vol. 11; no. 12; pp. 950 - 955
• Main Authors: Deleris, Angelique, Greenberg, Maxim V C, Ausin, Israel, Law, Rona W Y, Moissiard, Guillaume, Schubert, Daniel, Jacobsen, Steven E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.12.2010; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; EMBO Press; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: Arabidopsis - enzymology; Arabidopsis - genetics; Arabidopsis Proteins - metabolism; Arabidopsis thaliana; Chromatin; Chromatin - metabolism; Chromatin Immunoprecipitation; DNA methylation; DNA Methylation - genetics; Epigenetics; Genetic Complementation Test; Genetic Loci - genetics; Histones - metabolism; Jumonji Domain-Containing Histone Demethylases - metabolism; Life Sciences; Lysine - metabolism; Methyltransferases - metabolism; Models, Biological; Molecular biology; Mutation - genetics; Plant biology; Proteins; RNA, Plant - metabolism; Scientific Reports
• ISSN: 1469-221X; 1469-3178
• DOI: 10.1038/embor.2010.158

Histone demethylases—both lysine‐specific demethylase 1 (LSD1) and Jumonji‐C (JmjC) domain‐containing proteins—are broadly implicated in the regulation of chromatin‐dependent processes. In Arabidopsis thaliana, histone marks directly affect DNA methylation, and mutations in LSD1 homologues show reduced DNA methylation at some loci. We screened transfer DNA mutations in genes encoding JmjC domains for defects in DNA methylation. Mutations in jmj14 result in reduced DNA methylation in non‐CG contexts at targets of DRM2 (domains rearranged methyltransferase 2)‐mediated RNA‐directed DNA methylation (RdDM), which is associated with an increase in H3K4m3. Unlike other components of RdDM, JMJ14 is not required for de novo methylation of a transgene, suggesting that JMJ14 is specifically involved in the maintenance phase of DRM2‐mediated RdDM. This work identifies an H3K4m3 demethylase from the Jumonji family (JMJ14) that is required for DRM2‐mediated DNA methylation in Arabidopsis thaliana, showing that H3K4m3 marks have a negative impact on the siRNA‐driven DRM2 pathway.