Restricted chromosomal silencing in nucleolar dominance.

ABSTRACT: Failure of one parent's chromosomes to organize nucleoli in an interspecific hybrid is an epigenetic phenomenon known as nucleolar dominance. Selective gene silencing on a scale of millions of bp is known to be involved, but the full extent to which nucleolus organizer region (NOR)-bearing chromosomes are inactivated beyond the NORs is unknown. Aided by genome sequence data for Arabidopsis thaliana, we have mapped the extent of nucleolar dominance-induced silencing in Arabidopsis suecica, the allotetraploid hybrid of A. thaliana and Arabidopsis arenosa. Using a sensitive reverse transcription PCR assay, we show that the four A. thaliana NORs, each approximately 4 Mbp in size, are approximately 99.5% silenced in A. suecica vegetative leaves, whereas the NORs inherited from A. arenosa remain

SUBMITTER: Lewis MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC64717 | biostudies-literature | 2001 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature