Local chromatin environment of a Polycomb target gene instructs its own epigenetic inheritance

Inheritance of gene expression states is fundamental for cells to 'remember' past events, such as environmental or developmental cues. The conserved Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) maintains epigenetic repression of many genes in animals and plants and modifies chromatin at its target...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:eLife 2015-05, Vol.4
Main Authors: Berry, Scott, Hartley, Matthew, Olsson, Tjelvar S G, Dean, Caroline, Howard, Martin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arabidopsis - metabolism
Arabidopsis - physiology
Arabidopsis Proteins - genetics
Arabidopsis Proteins - metabolism
Cell division
Chromatin
Chromatin - metabolism
Chromosomes
cis memory
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
DNA methylation
DNA Primers - genetics
Epigenesis, Genetic - physiology
epigenetic
Epigenetics
FLOWERING LOCUS C
Gene expression
Gene Expression Profiling
Gene Expression Regulation, Plant - genetics
Gene Expression Regulation, Plant - physiology
Gene silencing
Genes
Genes and Chromosomes
Heredity
Histones
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Immunoblotting
Inheritance Patterns - physiology
Long term memory
Luminescent Proteins
MADS Domain Proteins - genetics
MADS Domain Proteins - metabolism
Mass Spectrometry
Microscopy, Confocal
Plant Biology
Polycomb
Polycomb group proteins
Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 - metabolism
Red Fluorescent Protein
Short Report
Transgenes - genetics
vernalization
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Summary:Inheritance of gene expression states is fundamental for cells to 'remember' past events, such as environmental or developmental cues. The conserved Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) maintains epigenetic repression of many genes in animals and plants and modifies chromatin at its targets. Histones modified by PRC2 can be inherited through cell division. However, it remains unclear whether this inheritance can direct long-term memory of individual gene expression states (cis memory) or instead if local chromatin states are dictated by the concentrations of diffusible factors (trans memory). By monitoring the expression of two copies of the Arabidopsis Polycomb target gene FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) in the same plants, we show that one copy can be repressed while the other is active. Furthermore, this 'mixed' expression state is inherited through many cell divisions as plants develop. These data demonstrate that epigenetic memory of FLC expression is stored not in trans but in cis.
ISSN:2050-084X
2050-084X
DOI:10.7554/eLife.07205