Evolution of sequence-specific anti-silencing systems in Arabidopsis.

ABSTRACT: The arms race between parasitic sequences and their hosts is a major driving force for evolution of gene control systems. Since transposable elements (TEs) are potentially deleterious, eukaryotes silence them by epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation. Little is known about how TEs counteract silencing to propagate during evolution. Here, we report behavior of sequence-specific anti-silencing proteins used by Arabidopsis TEs and evolution of those proteins and their target sequences. We show that VANC, a TE-encoded anti-silencing protein, induces extensive DNA methylation loss throughout TEs. Related VANC proteins have evolved to hypomethylate TEs of completely different spectra. Targets for VANC proteins often form tandem repeats, which vary considerably between related TEs. We prop

SUBMITTER: Hosaka A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5735166 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature