The role of ATXR6 expression in modulating genome stability and transposable element repression in <i>Arabidopsis</i>
Magdalena E. Potok, Zhenhui Zhong, Colette L. Picard, Qikun Liu, J. Truman, Cassidy E. Jacobsen, Ocean Sakr, Bilguudei Naranbaatar, Ruwan Thilakaratne, Zhanna Khnkoyan, Megan Purl, Harrison Cheng, Helena Vervaet, Suhua Feng, Shima Rayatpisheh, James A. Wohlschlegel, Ronan C. O’Malley, Joseph R. Ecker, Steven E. Jacobsen
Abstract
Significance The plant-specific H3K27me1 methyltransferases ATXR5 and ATXR6 play integral roles connecting epigenetic silencing with genomic stability. However, how H3K27me1 relates to these processes is poorly understood. In this study, we performed a comprehensive transcriptome analysis of tissue- and ploidy-specific expression in a hypomorphic atxr5/6 mutant and revealed that the tissue-specific defects correlate with residual ATXR6 expression. We also determined that ATXR5/6 function is essential for female germline development. Furthermore, we provide a comprehensive analysis of H3K27me1 changes in relation to other epigenetic marks. We also determined that some previously reported suppressors of atxr5/6 may act by restoring the levels of H3K27me1, such as through up-regulation of the ATXR6 transcript in the atxr6 hypomorphic promoter allele.