Project description:CAF-1 is a major nucleosome assembly complex, which functions particularly during replication and DNA-repair. Here, we studied how the nucleosome landscape changes in fas2 a mutant of the CAF-1 complex in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana
Project description:Plant ARGONAUTE (AGO) proteins play pivotal roles in gene expression regulation through small (s)RNA-guided mechanisms. Among the ten AGO proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana, AGO1 stands out as the main effector of post-transcriptional gene silencing. Intriguingly, a specific region of AGO1, its N-terminal extension (NTE), has gained prominence in recent studies linked to diverse regulatory functions, including subcellular localization, sRNA loading, and interactions with regulatory factors. In the realm of post-translational modifications (PTMs), little is known about arginine methylation in Arabidopsis AGOs. This study reveals a novel and intricate landscape of AGO1 methylation. Here, we have elucidated that NTEAGO1 undergoes symmetric arginine dimethylation on specific residues, and interacts with the methyltransferase PRMT5, which catalyzes its methylation. Notably, we observed that the lack of symmetric dimethylarginine has no discernible impact on AGO1's subcellular localization or miRNA loading capabilities. However, the absence of PRMT5 significantly alters the loading of a subgroup of sRNAs into AGO1 and reshapes the NTEAGO1 interactome. Importantly, our research extends beyond AGO1, illustrating that symmetric arginine dimethylation of NTEs is a common process across Arabidopsis AGOs, taking place in AGO1, AGO2, AGO3, and AGO5, deepening our understanding of PTMs in the intricate landscape of RNA-associated gene regulation.
Project description:Parallel RNA silencing pathways regulate gene expression in plants, either by transcriptional gene silencing via RNA-dependent DNA methylation (RdDM), or by post-transcriptional silencing targeting mRNAs. Both pathways rely on distinct Dicer-like proteins to cleave double-stranded RNA into small-interfering RNAs. Experiments to determine the subcellular localization of Dicer-like proteins in Arabidopsis revealed that DCL4 is predominantly expressed as a transcriptional start site isoform that encodes a cytoplasmic protein. A second, longer DCL4 transcript isoform encodes a nuclear-localization signal and its expression is repressed by DNA methylation. Consequently this isoform is induced when promoter methylation decreases due to infection with a bacterial pathogen or during silique development. Nuclear DCL4 produces unique populations of small RNAs, called DCL4NLS isoform-dependent siRNAs (disiRNAs), which function via a post-transcriptional silencing effector, but whose precursors are generated by the RdDM pathway. Arabidopsis cells can thus respond to genome methylation changes by modulating DCL4 localization, which in turn recruits PTGS factors to reinforce RNA silencing.