Transgenerational increases in DNA methylation in Arabidopsis plants defective in active DNA demethylation.

ABSTRACT: Spontaneous gain or loss of DNA methylation occurs in plant and animal genomes, and DNA methylation changes can lead to meiotically stable epialleles that generate heritable phenotypic diversity. However, it is unclear whether transgenerational epigenetic stability may be regulated by any cellular factors. Here, we examined spontaneously occurring variations in DNA methylation in wild-type and ros1 mutant Arabidopsis plants that were propagated for ten generations from single-seed descent. We found that the ros1 mutant, which is defective in active DNA demethylation, showed an increased transgenerational epimutation rate. The ros1 mutation led to more spontaneously gained methylation than lost methylation at individual cytosines, compared to the wild type which had sim

SUBMITTER: Tang K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11145202 | biostudies-literature | 2024 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature