Targeted reprogramming of H3K27me3 resets epigenetic memory in plant paternal chromatin [sperm]
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ABSTRACT: Epigenetic marks are reprogrammed in the gametes to reset genomic potential in the next generation. In mammals, paternal chromatin is extensively reprogrammed through the global erasure of DNA methylation and the exchange of histones with protamines1,2. Precisely how the paternal epigenome is reprogrammed in flowering plants remains unclear since DNA is not demethylated in sperm and histones are retained3,4. Here, we describe a multi-layered mechanism by which H3K27me3 is globally lost from histone-based sperm chromatin in Arabidopsis. This mechanism involves silencing of H3K27me3 ‘writers’, the activity of H3K27me3 ‘erasers’ and deposition of a sperm-specific histone, H3.105, which we show is immune to lysine 27 methylation. The loss of H3K27me3 facilitates transcription of genes essential for spermatogenesis and pre-configures sperm with a chromatin state that forecasts gene expression in the next generation. Thus, plants have evolved a specific mechanism to simultaneously differentiate male gametes and reprogram the paternal epigenome.
ORGANISM(S): Arabidopsis thaliana
PROVIDER: GSE144899 | GEO | 2020/03/17
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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