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Genome-wide mapping of cytosine methylation revealed dynamic DNA methylation patterns associated with rice centromeres

ABSTRACT: Specification and propagation of the centromeres of eukaryotic chromosomes is determined by epigenetic mechanisms. Unfortunately, the epigenetic characteristics of centromeric DNA and chromatin are difficult to define because the centromeres are composed of highly repetitive DNA sequences in most eukaryotic species. Several rice centromeres have been fully sequenced, making rice an excellent model for centromere research. We conducted genome-wide mapping of cytosine methylation using methylcytosine immunoprecipitation combined with Illumina sequencing. The DNA sequences in the core domains of rice Cen4, Cen5, and Cen8 showed elevated methylation levels compared to the sequences in the pericentromeric regions. In addition, elevated methylation levels were associated with the DNA sequences in the CENH3-binding subdomains compared to the sequences in the flanking H3 subdomains. In contrast, the centromeric domain of Cen11, which is composed exclusively of centromeric satellite DNA, is hypomethylated compared to the pericentromeric domains. Thus, the DNA sequences associated with functional centromeres can be either hypomethylated or hypermethylated. The methylation patterns of centromeric DNA appear to be correlated with the composition of the associated DNA sequences. We propose that both hypomethylation and hypermethylation of CENH3-associated DNA sequences can serve as epigenetic marks to distinguish where CENH3 deposition will occur within the surrounding H3 chromatin.

ORGANISM(S): Oryza sativa

PROVIDER: GSE21414 | GEO | 2010/04/22

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA126357

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:The centromere is defined by the presence of a centromere-specific histone H3 variant, CENH3. Establishment and maintenance of the centromeric chromatin (CEN chromatin) is determined by poorly understood epigenetic mechanisms. Interestingly, CEN chromatin in several eukaryotes showed euchromatic characteristics although being embedded within pericentromeric heterochromatin. Specifically, H3K4me2 appeared to be a unique histone modification mark associated with animal centromeres. We developed a genomic tiling array for four fully sequenced rice centromeres. A ChIP-chip approach was used to study the patterns of several euchromatic histone modification marks, including H3K4me2, H3K4me3, H3K36me3, and H3K4K9a, associated with rice centromeres. We demonstrate that the CENH3 subdomains within the four centromeres are depleted with the four histone H3 marks. The vast majority of the four histone marks were associated with the genes located in the H3 subdomains within the centromeric cores. Genes in the centromeres showed similar histone modification patterns as those located outside of the centromeres. Thus, the euchromatic characteristics of rice CEN chromatin are trademarks of the transcribed sequences embedded in the H3 subdomains of the centromeres. We propose that the constitutively expressed genes located in rice centromeres may provide a barrier for loading of CENH3 into the H3 subdomains. The separation of CENH3 into the H3 subdomains is favorable for the three dimensional structure and its associated function of rice centromeres. We developed a genomic tiling array that covers four rice centromeres (Cen4, Cen5, Cen7, and Cen8) using the NimbleGen 3x720K array based on the NimbleGen HD2 platform. We used four antibodies (H3K4me3, H3K4me2, H3K36me3, H3K4K9ac) to perform ChIP-chip experiments. ChIP was conducted using leaf tissue from two-week old rice seedlings. We have 3 biological replicates for each antibody and 6 technological replicates of hybridization with position exchange on the array. Thus, each histone modification included 18 hybridization experiments.

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Genome-wide mapping of cytosine methylation revealed dynamic DNA methylation patterns associated with rice centromeres

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