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Arabidopsis AtMORC4 and AtMORC7 form Nuclear Bodies and Repress a Large Number of Protein-Coding Genes

ABSTRACT: The MORC family of GHKL ATPases are an enigmatic class of proteins with diverse chromatin related functions. In Arabidopsis, AtMORC1, AtMORC2, and AtMORC6 act together in heterodimeric complexes to mediate transcriptional silencing of methylated DNA elements. Here, we studied Arabidopsis AtMORC4 and AtMORC7. We found that, in contrast to AtMORC1,2,6, they act to suppress a wide set of non-methylated protein-coding genes that are enriched for those involved in pathogen response. Furthermore, atmorc4 atmorc7 double mutants show a pathogen response phenotype. We found that AtMORC4 and AtMORC7 form homomeric complexes in vivo and are concentrated in discrete nuclear bodies adjacent to chromocenters. Analysis of an atmorc1,2,4,5,6,7 hextuple mutant demonstrates that transcriptional de-repression is largely uncoupled from changes in DNA methylation in plants devoid of MORC function. However, we also uncover a requirement for MORC in both DNA methylation and silencing at a small but distinct subset of RNA-directed DNA methylation target loci. These regions are characterized by poised transcriptional potential and a low density of sites for symmetric cytosine methylation. These results provide insights into the biological function of MORC proteins in higher eukaryotes.

ORGANISM(S): Arabidopsis thaliana

PROVIDER: GSE78836 | GEO | 2016/05/11

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA314105

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Epigenetic gene silencing is of central importance to maintain genome integrity and is mediated by an elaborate interplay between DNA methylation, histone posttranslational modifications and chromatin remodeling complexes. DNA methylation and repressive histone marks usually correlate with transcriptionally silent heterochromatin, however there are exceptions to this interdependence. In Arabidopsis, mutation of MORPHEUS MOLECULE 1 (MOM1) causes transcriptional derepression of heterochromatin independently of changes in DNA methylation. More recently, two Arabidopsis homologs of mouse Microrchidia (MORC) have also been implicated in gene silencing and heterochromatin condensation without altering genome-wide DNA methylation patterns. In this study, we show that AtMORC6 physically interacts with AtMORC1 and with its close homologue AtMORC2 in two mutually exclusive protein complexes. RNA-seq analysis of high-order mutants indicates that AtMORC1 and AtMORC2 act redundantly to repress a common set of loci. We also examined the genetic interactions between AtMORC6 and MOM1 pathways. Although AtMORC6 and MOM1 control the silencing of a very similar set of genomic loci, we observed synergistic transcriptional regulation in the mom1/atmorc6 double mutant, suggesting that these epigenetic regulators act mainly by independent silencing mechanisms. RNA-seq libraries were prepared for two suites of mutants to allow direct comparisons between mutants within each set. The two sets consisted of the following samples: Set_1) A wildtype (Col) control, the morc1 mutant, the morc2 mutant, the morc1 morc2 double mutant, the morc6 mutant, and the morc1 morc2 morc6 triple mutant ; Set_2) A wildtpe (Col) control, the morc6 mutant, the mom1 mutant, and the mom1 morc6 double mutant. For each sample, two biological replicates were performed (denoted "bio_replicate_1" or "bio_replicate_2"). Whole genome bisulifte libraries were sequenced from material grown in parallel.

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Arabidopsis AtMORC4 and AtMORC7 form Nuclear Bodies and Repress a Large Number of Protein-Coding Genes

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