title: Maternal epigenetic pathways control parental contributions to Arabidopsis early embryogenesis.
abstract: Defining the contributions and interactions of paternal and maternal genomes during embryo development is critical to understand the fundamental processes involved in hybrid vigor, hybrid sterility, and reproductive isolation. To determine the parental contributions and their regulation during Arabidopsis embryogenesis, we combined deep-sequencing-based RNA profiling and genetic analyses. At the 2-4 cell stage there is a strong, genome-wide dominance of maternal transcripts, although transcripts are contributed by both parental genomes. At the globular stage the relative paternal contribution is higher, largely due to a gradual activation of the paternal genome. We identified two antagonistic maternal pathways that control these parental contributions. Paternal alleles are initially downregulated by the chromatin siRNA pathway, linked to DNA and histone methylation, whereas transcriptional activation requires maternal activity of the histone chaperone complex CAF1. Our results define maternal epigenetic pathways controlling the parental contributions in plant embryos, which are distinct from those regulating genomic imprinting.
authors.affiliation: Diversité, Adaptation et Développement des Plantes, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Université de Montpellier, UMR 232, Montpellier 34394, France.
authors.forename: Daphné
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Autran
authors.forename: Célia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baroux
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Raissig
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lenormand
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wittig
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grob
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Steimer
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barann
authors.forename: Ulrich C
authors.initials: UC
authors.lastname: Klostermeier
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Leblanc
authors.forename: Jean-Philippe
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Vielle-Calzada
authors.forename: Phillip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rosenstiel
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grimanelli
authors.forename: Ueli
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Grossniklaus
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D057890:Epigenomics; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D018745:Genome, Plant; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D056771:Ovule / Q000378:metabolism; D000072260:RNA Splicing Factors; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000378:metabolism; D012639:Seeds / Q000235:genetics; D015533:Transcriptional Activation
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; C518085:At2g20020 protein, Arabidopsis; D000072260:RNA Splicing Factors; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase; C471228:SUVH4 protein, Arabidopsis