Abstract
Background: DNA demethylation occurs in many species and is involved in diverse biological processes. However, the occurrence and role of DNA demethylation in maize remain unknown. Results: We analyze loss-of-function mutants of two major genes encoding DNA demethylases. No significant change in DNA methylation has been detected in these mutants. However, we detect increased DNA methylation levels in the mutants around genes and some transposons. The increase in DNA methylation is accompanied by alteration in gene expression, with a tendency to show downregulation, especially for the genes that are preferentially expressed in endosperm. Imprinted expression of both maternally and paternally expressed genes changes in F1 hybrid with the mutant as female and the wild-type as male parental line, but not in the reciprocal hybrid. This alteration in gene expression is accompanied by allele-specific DNA methylation differences, suggesting that removal of DNA methylation of the maternal allele is required for the proper expression of these imprinted genes. Finally, we demonstrate that hypermethylation in the double mutant is associated with reduced binding of transcription factor to its target, and altered gene expression. Conclusions: Our results suggest that active removal of DNA methylation is important for transcription factor binding and proper gene expression in maize endosperm.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 77 |
Journal | Genome biology |
Volume | 23 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2022 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No: 31871635), Huazhong Agricultural University Scientific & Technological Self-innovation Foundation (Program No. 2016RC012), and the 111 Project Crop Genomics and Molecular Breeding (B20051).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
Keywords
- DNA demethylation
- Imprinting
- Maize
- Tissue-specific expression
- Transcription factor binding
PubMed: MeSH publication types
- Journal Article
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't