title: Polycomb-group histone methyltransferase CLF is required for proper somatic recombination in Arabidopsis.
abstract: Homologous recombination (HR) is a key process during meiosis in reproductive cells and the DNA damage repair process in somatic cells. Although chromatin structure is thought to be crucial for HR, only a small number of chromatin modifiers have been studied in HR regulation so far. Here, we investigated the function of CURLY LEAF (CLF), a Polycomb-group (PcG) gene responsible for histone3 lysine 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3), in somatic and meiotic HR in Arabidopsis thaliana. Although fluorescent protein reporter assays in pollen and seeds showed that the frequency of meiotic cross-over in the loss-of-function mutant clf-29 was not significantly different from that in wild type, there was a lower frequency of HR in clf-29 than in wild type under normal conditions and under bleomycin treatment. The DNA damage levels were comparable between clf-29 and wild type, even though several DNA damage repair genes (e.g. ATM, BRCA2a, RAD50, RAD51, RAD54, and PARP2) were expressed at lower levels in clf-29. Under bleomycin treatment, the expression levels of DNA repair genes were similar in clf-29 and wild type, thus CLF may also regulate HR via other mechanisms. These findings expand the current knowledge of PcG function and contribute to general interests of epigenetic regulation in genome stability regulation.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China.
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Wang-Bin
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Ying-Xiang
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ai-Wu
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D003434:Crossing Over, Genetic; D004249:DNA Damage / Q000235:genetics; D004260:DNA Repair / Q000235:genetics; D015536:Down-Regulation / Q000235:genetics; D005453:Fluorescence; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D000076983:Histone Methyltransferases; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008540:Meiosis / Q000235:genetics; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D063146:Polycomb-Group Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D012639:Seeds / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; C104597:CURLY LEAF protein, Arabidopsis; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D063146:Polycomb-Group Proteins; D000076983:Histone Methyltransferases; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase
keywords: Arabidopsis; CLF; DNA repair; homologous recombination; meiosis