title: Conserved plant genes with similarity to mammalian de novo DNA methyltransferases.
abstract: DNA methylation plays a critical role in controlling states of gene activity in most eukaryotic organisms, and it is essential for proper growth and development. Patterns of methylation are established by de novo methyltransferases and maintained by maintenance methyltransferase activities. The Dnmt3 family of de novo DNA methyltransferases has recently been characterized in animals. Here we describe DNA methyltransferase genes from both Arabidopsis and maize that show a high level of sequence similarity to Dnmt3, suggesting that they encode plant de novo methyltransferases. Relative to all known eukaryotic methyltransferases, these plant proteins contain a novel arrangement of the motifs required for DNA methyltransferase catalytic activity. The N termini of these methyltransferases contain a series of ubiquitin-associated (UBA) domains. UBA domains are found in several ubiquitin pathway proteins and in DNA repair enzymes such as Rad23, and they may be involved in ubiquitin binding. The presence of UBA domains provides a possible link between DNA methylation and ubiquitin/proteasome pathways.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606, USA.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: N M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Springer
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Muszynski
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kaeppler
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Jacobsen
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D001665:Binding Sites; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D000076123:DNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferase 1; D004248:DNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D000090205:DNA Methyltransferase 3A; D017343:Genes, Plant; D006801:Humans; D008322:Mammals; D051379:Mice; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D011487:Protein Conformation; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014452:Ubiquitins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C000717967:DNMT3A protein, human; D010940:Plant Proteins; D014452:Ubiquitins; C491786:Dnmt2 protein, mouse; D000076123:DNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferase 1; D004248:DNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferases; D000090205:DNA Methyltransferase 3A; C112218:TRDMT1 protein, human