title: H3K36 methylation is critical for brassinosteroid-regulated plant growth and development in rice.
abstract: Methylation of histone lysine residues plays an essential role in epigenetic regulation of gene expression in eukaryotes. Enzymes involved in establishment of the repressive H3K9 and H3K27 methylation marks have been previously characterized, but the deposition and function of H3K4 and H3K36 methylation remain uncharacterized in rice. Here, we report that rice SDG725 encodes a H3K36 methyltransferase, and its down-regulation causes wide-ranging defects, including dwarfism, shortened internodes, erect leaves and small seeds. These defects resemble the phenotypes previously described for some brassinosteroid-knockdown mutants. Consistently, transcriptome analyses revealed that SDG725 depletion results in down-regulation by more than two-fold of over 1000 genes, including D11, BRI1 and BU1, which are known to be involved in brassinosteroid biosynthesis or signaling pathways. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses showed that levels of H3K36me2/3 are reduced in chromatin at some regions of these brassinosteroid-related genes in SDG725 knockdown plants, and that SDG725 protein is able to directly bind to these target genes. Taken together, our data indicate that SDG725-mediated H3K36 methylation modulates brassinosteroid-related gene expression, playing an important role in rice plant growth and development.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Pengfei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sui
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Sheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mu
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Haiyang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Wen-Hui
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Aiwu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dong
mesh_terms: D060406:Brassinosteroids / Q000494:pharmacology*; D047369:Chromatin Immunoprecipitation; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000187:drug effects; D000076983:Histone Methyltransferases; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism*; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008239:Lysine / Q000378:metabolism*; D008745:Methylation; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D012275:Oryza / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators / Q000494:pharmacology; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011485:Protein Binding; D034622:RNA Interference; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D060406:Brassinosteroids; D006657:Histones; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators; D010940:Plant Proteins; D000076983:Histone Methyltransferases; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase; D008239:Lysine