Imprinted expression of genes and small RNA is associated with localized hypomethylation of the maternal genome in rice endosperm.

ABSTRACT: Arabidopsis thaliana endosperm, a transient tissue that nourishes the embryo, exhibits extensive localized DNA demethylation on maternally inherited chromosomes. Demethylation mediates parent-of-origin-specific (imprinted) gene expression but is apparently unnecessary for the extensive accumulation of maternally biased small RNA (sRNA) molecules detected in seeds. Endosperm DNA in the distantly related monocots rice and maize is likewise locally hypomethylated, but whether this hypomethylation is generally parent-of-origin specific is unknown. Imprinted expression of sRNA also remains uninvestigated in monocot seeds. Here, we report high-coverage sequencing of the Kitaake rice cultivar that enabled us to show that localized hypomethylation in rice endosperm occurs solely on the maternal ge

SUBMITTER: Rodrigues JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3651473 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature