RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Plant mobile domain proteins ensure Microrchidia 1 expression to fulfill transposon silencing
JF Life Science Alliance
JO Life Sci. Alliance
FD Life Science Alliance LLC
SP e202201539
DO 10.26508/lsa.202201539
VO 6
IS 4
A1 Jarry, Lucas
A1 Descombin, Julie
A1 Nicolau, Melody
A1 Dussutour, Ange
A1 Picault, Nathalie
A1 Moissiard, Guillaume
YR 2023
UL https://www.life-science-alliance.org/content/6/4/e202201539.abstract
AB Silencing of transposable elements (TEs) is an essential process to maintain genomic integrity within the cell. In Arabidopsis, together with canonical epigenetic pathways such as DNA methylation and modifications of histone tails, the plant mobile domain (PMD) proteins MAINTENANCE OF MERISTEMS (MAIN) and MAIN-LIKE 1 (MAIL1) are involved in TE silencing. In addition, the MICRORCHIDIA (MORC) ATPases, including MORC1, are important cellular factors repressing TEs. Here, we describe the genetic interaction and connection between the PMD and MORC pathways by showing that MORC1 expression is impaired in main and mail1 mutants. Transcriptomic analyses of higher order mutant plants combining pmd and morc1 mutations, and pmd mutants in which MORC1 expression is restored, show that the silencing defects of a subset of TEs in pmd mutants are most likely the consequence of MORC1 down-regulation. Besides, a significant fraction of up-regulated TEs in pmd mutants are not targeted by the MORC1 pathway.