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

• 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
• ISSN: 2050-084X; 2050-084X
• DOI: 10.7554/eLife.07205

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.