Epigenetic Interactions among Three dTph1 Transposons in Two Homologous Chromosomes Activate a New Excision-Repair Mechanism in Petunia

Unstable anthocyanin3 (an3) alleles of petunia with insertions of the Activator/Dissociation-like transposon dTph1 fall into two classes that differ in their genetic behavior. Excision of the (single) dTph1 insertion from class 1 an3 alleles results in the formation of a footprint, similar to the &q...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Plant cell 1999-07, Vol.11 (7), p.1319-1336
Main Authors: van Houwelingen, Adèle, Souer, Erik, Mol, Jos, Koes, Ronald
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alleles
Base Sequence
Chromosomes
Corn
DNA Repair
DNA Transposable Elements
DNA, Plant
Epigenetics
Flowers
Genetic loci
Genetic transposition
Homozygotes
Phenotypes
Plants
Solanaceae - genetics
Transposons
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Summary:Unstable anthocyanin3 (an3) alleles of petunia with insertions of the Activator/Dissociation-like transposon dTph1 fall into two classes that differ in their genetic behavior. Excision of the (single) dTph1 insertion from class 1 an3 alleles results in the formation of a footprint, similar to the "classical" mechanism observed for excisions of maize and snapdragon transposons. By contrast, dTph1 excision and gap repair in class 2 an3 alleles occurs via a newly discovered mechanism that does not generate a footprint at the empty donor site. This novel mechanism depends on the presence of two additional dTph1 elements: one located in cis, 30 bp upstream of the an3 translation start in the same an3 allele, and a homologous copy, which is located in trans in the homologous an3 allele. Absence of the latter dTph1 element causes a heritable suppression of dTph1 excision-repair from the homologous an3 allele by the novel mechanism, which to some extent resembles paramutation. Thus, an epigenetic interaction among three dTph1 copies activates a novel recombination mechanism that eliminates a transposon insertion.
ISSN:1040-4651
1532-298X
DOI:10.1105/tpc.11.7.1319