Open AccessHistone H4R3 Methylation Catalyzed by SKB1/PRMT5 Is Required for Maintaining Shoot Apical Meristem
Author(s) -
Minghui Yue,
Qiuling Li,
Zhang Ya,
Yan Zhao,
Zhaoliang Zhang,
Shilai Bao
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0083258
Subject(s) - meristem , histone , biology , arabidopsis , chromatin , methylation , flowering locus c , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , mutant , histone methylation , epigenetics , regulation of gene expression , dna methylation , histone methyltransferase , transcription (linguistics) , gene expression , gene , linguistics , philosophy
The shoot apical meristem (SAM) is the source of all of the above-ground tissues and organs in post-embryonic development in higher plants. Studies have proven that the expression of genes constituting the WUSCHEL (WUS)- CLAVATA ( CLV ) feedback loop is critical for the SAM maintenance. Several histone lysine acetylation and methylation markers have been proven to regulate the transcription level of WUS . However, little is known about how histone arginine methylation regulates the expression of WUS and other genes. Here, we report that H4R3 symmetric dimethylation (H4R3sme2) mediated by SKB1/PRMT5 represses the expression of CORYNE ( CRN ) to maintain normal SAM geometrics. SKB1 lesion results in small SAM size in Arabidopsis , as well as down-regulated expression of WUS and CLV3 . Up-regulation of WUS expression enlarges SAM size in skb1 mutant plants. We find that SKB1 and H4R3sme2 associate with the chromatin of the CRN locus to down-regulate its transcription. Mutation of CRN rescues the expression of WUS and the small SAM size of skb1 . Thus, SKB1 and SKB1 -mediated H4R3sme2 are required for the maintenance of SAM in Arabidopsis seedlings.