title: Requirement for flap endonuclease 1 (FEN1) to maintain genomic stability and transcriptional gene silencing in Arabidopsis.
abstract: As a central component in the maturation of Okazaki fragments, flap endonuclease 1 (FEN1) removes the 5'-flap and maintains genomic stability. Here, FEN1 was cloned as a suppressor of transcriptional gene silencing (TGS) from a forward genetic screen. FEN1 is abundant in the root and shoot apical meristems and FEN1-GFP shows a nucleolus-localized signal in tobacco cells. The Arabidopsis fen1-1 mutant is hypersensitive to methyl methanesulfonate and shows reduced telomere length. Interestingly, genome-wide chromatin immunoprecipitation and RNA sequencing results demonstrate that FEN1 mutation leads to a decrease in the level of H3K27me3 and an increase in the expression of a subset of genes marked with H3K27me3. Overall, these results uncover a role for FEN1 in mediating TGS as well as maintaining genome stability in Arabidopsis.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China.
authors.forename: Jixiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200032, China.|Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47906, USA.
authors.forename: Shaojun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200032, China.|Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47906, USA.
authors.forename: Jian-Kang
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China. gongzz@cau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhizhong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gong
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D045585:Flap Endonucleases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D020868:Gene Silencing; D042822:Genomic Instability; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism; D008741:Methyl Methanesulfonate / Q000494:pharmacology; D009154:Mutation; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D016615:Telomere
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D006657:Histones; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; C471271:ROS1 protein, Arabidopsis; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D008741:Methyl Methanesulfonate; D045585:Flap Endonucleases
keywords: Arabidopsis thaliana; ChIP-seq; DNA damage repair; FEN1; H3K27me3; telomere; transcriptional gene silencing