title: Silencing of active transposable elements in plants.
abstract: In plant genomes the vast majority of transposable elements (TEs) are found in a transcriptionally silenced state that is epigenetically propagated from generation to generation. Although the mechanism of this maintenance of silencing has been well studied, it is now clear that the pathways responsible for maintaining TEs in a silenced state differ from the pathways responsible for initially targeting the TE for silencing. Recently, attention in this field has focused on investigating the molecular mechanisms that initiate and establish TE silencing. Here we review the current models of how TEs are triggered for silencing, the data supporting each model, and the key future questions in this fast moving field.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics, The Ohio State University, United States.
authors.forename: Dalen
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fultz
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics, The Ohio State University, United States.
authors.forename: Sarah G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Choudury
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics, The Ohio State University, United States; Center for RNA Biology, The Ohio State University, United States. Electronic address: Slotkin.2@osu.edu.
authors.forename: R Keith
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Slotkin
mesh_terms: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D020868:Gene Silencing; D018745:Genome, Plant; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements