title: Arabidopsis MRG domain proteins bridge two histone modifications to elevate expression of flowering genes.
abstract: Trimethylation of lysine 36 of histone H3 (H3K36me3) is found to be associated with various transcription events. In Arabidopsis, the H3K36me3 level peaks in the first half of coding regions, which is in contrast to the 3'-end enrichment in animals. The MRG15 family proteins function as 'reader' proteins by binding to H3K36me3 to control alternative splicing or prevent spurious intragenic transcription in animals. Here, we demonstrate that two closely related Arabidopsis homologues (MRG1 and MRG2) are localised to the euchromatin and redundantly ensure the increased transcriptional levels of two flowering time genes with opposing functions, FLOWERING LOCUS C and FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT). MRG2 directly binds to the FT locus and elevates the expression in an H3K36me3-dependent manner. MRG1/2 binds to H3K36me3 with their chromodomain and interact with the histone H4-specific acetyltransferases (HAM1 and HAM2) to achieve a high expression level through active histone acetylation at the promoter and 5' regions of target loci. Together, this study presents a mechanistic link between H3K36me3 and histone H4 acetylation. Our data also indicate that the biological functions of MRG1/2 have diversified from their animal homologues during evolution, yet they still maintain their conserved H3K36me3-binding molecular function.
authors.affiliation: Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117604, Republic of Singapore.
authors.forename: Yifeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117604, Republic of Singapore Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543, Republic of Singapore.
authors.forename: Eng-Seng
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Gan
authors.affiliation: Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117604, Republic of Singapore.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117604, Republic of Singapore.
authors.forename: Wan-Yi
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Wee
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-7271, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaoyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117604, Republic of Singapore Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543, Republic of Singapore itot@tll.org.sg.
authors.forename: Toshiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ito
mesh_terms: D000107:Acetylation; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002868:Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D022041:Euchromatin / Q000737:chemistry; D035264:Flowers / Q000235:genetics; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D051548:Histone Acetyltransferases / Q000378:metabolism; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism*; D026161:MADS Domain Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D002868:Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone; D022041:Euchromatin; C418902:At5g10140 protein, Arabidopsis; C418905:FT protein, Arabidopsis; D006657:Histones; D026161:MADS Domain Proteins; C000595514:MRG1 protein, Arabidopsis; C000595515:MRG2 protein, Arabidopsis; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase; C556085:LAZ2 protein, Arabidopsis; D051548:Histone Acetyltransferases