title: RNA-mediated chromatin-based silencing in plants.
abstract: Plants have evolved an elaborate transcriptional machinery dedicated to eliciting sequence-specific, chromatin-based gene silencing. Two Pol II-related, plant-specific RNA polymerases, named Pol IV and Pol V, collaborate with proteins of the RNA interference machinery to generate long and short noncoding RNAs involved in epigenetic regulation. As revealed by a variety of genetic, molecular, and genomic technologies, these RNAs are used extensively in plants to direct the establishment, spread, and removal of DNA cytosine methylation throughout their genomes. RNA-mediated chromatin-level silencing is increasingly implicated in development, stress responses, and natural epigenetic variation that may promote phenotypic diversity, physiological plasticity, and evolutionary change.
authors.affiliation: Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Dr. Bohr-Gasse 3, A-1030 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Marjori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matzke
authors.forename: Tatsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kanno
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Daxinger
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Huettel
authors.forename: Antonius J M
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Matzke
mesh_terms: D019175:DNA Methylation; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D020868:Gene Silencing; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D034622:RNA Interference; D022661:RNA, Untranslated / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018744:DNA, Plant; D022661:RNA, Untranslated; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases