On the origin and evolutionary consequences of gene body DNA methylation

Adam J. Bewick(University of Georgia), Lexiang Ji(University of Georgia), Chad E. Niederhuth(University of Georgia), Eva‐Maria Willing(Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research), Brigitte T. Hofmeister(University of Georgia), Xiuling Shi(University of Georgia), Li Wang(University of Georgia), Zefu Lu(University of Georgia), Nicholas Rohr(University of Georgia), Benjamin Hartwig(Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research), Christiane Kiefer(Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research), Roger B. Deal(Emory University), Jeremy Schmutz(HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology), Jane Grimwood(HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology), Hume Stroud(University of California, Los Angeles), Steven E. Jacobsen(Howard Hughes Medical Institute), Korbinian Schneeberger(Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research), Xiaoyu Zhang(University of Georgia), Robert J. Schmitz(University of Georgia)
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
July 25, 2016
10.1073/pnas.1604666113
Cited by 351Open Access
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Abstract

Significance DNA methylation in plants is found at CG, CHG, and CHH sequence contexts. In plants, CG DNA methylation is enriched in the transcribed regions of many constitutively expressed genes (gene body methylation; gbM) and shows correlations with several chromatin modifications. Contrary to other types of DNA methylation, the evolution and function of gbM are largely unknown. Here we show two independent concomitant losses of the DNA methyltransferase CHROMOMETHYLASE 3 (CMT3) and gbM without the predicted disruption of transcription and of modifications to chromatin. This result suggests that CMT3 is required for the establishment of gbM in actively transcribed genes, and that gbM is dispensable for normal transcription as well as for the composition and modification of plant chromatin.

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