Role of the Arabidopsis DNA glycosylase/lyase ROS1 in active DNA demethylation.

ABSTRACT: DNA methylation is a stable epigenetic mark for transcriptional gene silencing in diverse organisms including plants and many animals. In contrast to the well characterized mechanism of DNA methylation by methyltransferases, the mechanisms and function of active DNA demethylation have been controversial. Genetic evidence suggested that the DNA glycosylase domain-containing protein ROS1 of Arabidopsis is a putative DNA demethylase, because loss-of-function ros1 mutations cause DNA hypermethylation and enhance transcriptional gene silencing. We report here the biochemical characterization of ROS1 and the effect of its overexpression on the DNA methylation of target genes. Our data suggest that the DNA glycosylase activity of ROS1 removes 5-methylcytosine from the DNA backbone and then its ly

SUBMITTER: Agius F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1544249 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature