Reinforcement of transcriptional silencing by a positive feedback between DNA methylation and non-coding transcription

Non-coding transcription is an important determinant of heterochromatin formation. In Arabidopsis thaliana a specialized RNA polymerase V (Pol V) transcribes pervasively and produces long non-coding RNAs. These transcripts work with small interfering RNA to facilitate locus-specific establishment of RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM). Subsequent maintenance of RdDM is associated with elevated levels of Pol V transcription. However, the impact of DNA methylation on Pol V transcription remained unresolved. We found that DNA methylation strongly enhances Pol V transcription. The level of Pol V transcription is reduced in mutants defective in RdDM components working downstream of Pol V, indicating that RdDM is maintained by a mutual reinforcement of DNA methylation and Pol V transcription. Pol V transcription is affected only on loci that lose DNA methylation in all sequence contexts in a particular mutant, including mutants lacking maintenance DNA methyltransferases, which suggests that RdDM works in a complex crosstalk with other silencing pathways.