Phenotypic diversity mediated by the maize transposable elements Ac and Spm

Mutations caused by the insertion of members of the Ac or Spm family of transposable elements result in a great diversity of phenotypes. With the cloning of the mutant genes and the characterization of their products, the mechanisms underlying phenotypic diversity are being deciphered. These mechanisms include (i) imprecise excision of transposable elements, which can result in the addition of amino acids to proteins; (ii) DNA methylation, which has been correlated with the activity of the element; (iii) transposase-mediated deletions within elements, which can inactivate an element or lead to a new unstable phenotype; and (iv) removal of transcribed elements from RNA, which can facilitate gene expression despite the insertion of elements into exons. An understanding of the behavior of the maize elements has provided clues to the function of cryptic elements in all maize genomes.     

Nonmethylated transposable elements and methylated genes in a chordate genome

The genome of the invertebrate chordate Ciona intestinalis was found to be a stable mosaic of methylated and nonmethylated domains. Multiple copies of an apparently active long terminal repeat retrotransposon and a long interspersed element are nonmethylated and a large fraction of abundant short interspersed elements are also methylation free. Genes, by contrast, are predominantly methylated. These data are incompatible with the genome defense model, which proposes that DNA methylation in animals is primarily targeted to endogenous transposable elements. Cytosine methylation in this urochordate may be preferentially directed to genes.     

转座子沉默与DNA甲基化

转座子(transposable elements,TEs)在生物体基因组可以通过转座或逆转座移动,它拷贝数的大规模增加是基因组不稳定的重要因素,因此,维持TEs沉默是宿主进化的方向。DNA甲基化被认为是沉默TEs的可遗传表观遗传修饰方式,同时也在维持基因组稳定、基因印迹、调节基因表达中发挥作用。本研究综述了TEs对生物基因组进化和基因表达的影响,重点总结了以DNA甲基化为主的转座子沉默机制的最新研究进展,归纳了环境因素通过DNA去甲基化调控转座子跳跃的机理。图4参82     

Genome-wide Identification and Analysis of DNA Methyltransferases in Grape

DNA methylation is an important epigenetic regulation mechanism, which is catalyzed by DNA methyltransferases. In this study, eight DNA methyltransferase genes were identified in grape genome to analyze the selective pressure, gene expression and codon usage bias. The results showed grape DNA methyltransferase MET subfamily underwent relatively strong purifying selection during evolution, while chromomethylase CMT subfamily underwent positive selection during evolution. Under different abiotic(heat, drought or cold) stresses, the expression level of many grape DNA methyltransferase genes changed significantly. The expression level of these genes might be related with cis-regulatory elements of their promoters. The results of codon usage bias analysis showed that synonymous codon bias existed in grape DNA methyltransferase gene family, which might be affected by mutation pressure. These results laid a solid foundation for in-depth study of DNA methyltransferases in grape.     

水产养殖环境胁迫对鱼类表观遗传的影响研究进展

表观遗传学是研究基因核苷酸序列不发生改变的情况下,基因表达的可遗传的变化的一门遗传学分支学科。表观遗传的现象较多,已有DNA甲基化、组蛋白修饰、染色质重塑、非编码RNA调控、基因组印记、基因沉默、母体效应、核仁显性、休眠转座子激活等。在集约化的水产养殖模式中,养殖密度提高,投喂过量等均会产生刺激鱼类生长的环境因素。已有文献报道,环境胁迫因素刺激可影响鱼类表观遗传修饰,但并未涉及遗传信息的变化,所以在一定范围内可以解释为表型变化。本研究围绕环境胁迫因素对鱼类表观遗传产生的影响进行了综述,为进一步阐释环境因素与基因互作关系提供了参考。     

DNA methylation and epigenetic inheritance in plants and filamentous fungi

Plants and filamentous fungi share with mammals enzymes responsible for DNA methylation. In these organisms, DNA methylation is associated with gene silencing and transposon control. However, plants and fungi differ from mammals in the genomic distribution, sequence specificity, and heritability of methylation. We consider the role that transposons play in establishing methylation patterns and the epigenetic consequences of their perturbation.     

Hybrid dysgenesis in D. melanogaster is not a general release mechanism for DNA transpositions

Many spontaneous mutations are caused by the insertion or excision of DNA elements. Since most mutations are deleterious, evolution should favor a mechanism for genetically controlling the rate of movement of transposable elements in most, if not all, organisms. In Drosophila melanogaster a syndrome of correlated genetic changes, including mutation, chromosome breakage, and sterility, is observed in the hybrid progeny of crosses between different strains. This syndrome, which is termed hybrid dysgenesis, results from the movement of P-DNA elements. What is not clear is whether the movement of other types of transposable elements is under the same coordinated control. In this study the ability of hybrid dysgenesis to increase the rate of excision of 12 DNA elements at 16 mutant alleles and to induce insertion-bearing mutations to change to other mutant states was tested. The data show that hybrid dysgenesis caused by P-element transpositions does not act as a general stimulus for the movement of other Drosophila transposable elements.     

Transposition of cloned P elements into Drosophila germ line chromosomes

Recombinant DNA carrying the 3-kilobase transposable element was injected into Drosophila embryos of a strain that lacked such elements. Under optimum conditions, half of the surviving embryos showed evidence of P element-induced mutations in a fraction of their progeny. Direct analysis of the DNA of strains derived from such flies showed them to contain from one to five intact 3-kilobase P elements located at a wide variety of chromosomal sites. DNA sequences located outside the P element on the injected DNA were not transferred. Thus P elements can efficiently and selectively transpose from extrachromosomal DNA to the DNA of germ line chromosomes in Drosophila embryos. These observations provide the basis for efficient DNA-mediated gene transfer in Drosophila.     

Widespread role for the flowering-time regulators FCA and FPA in RNA-mediated chromatin silencing

The RRM-domain proteins FCA and FPA have previously been characterized as flowering-time regulators in Arabidopsis. We show that they are required for RNA-mediated chromatin silencing of a range of loci in the genome. At some target loci, FCA and FPA promote asymmetric DNA methylation, whereas at others they function in parallel to DNA methylation. Female gametophytic development and early embryonic development are particularly susceptible to malfunctions in FCA and FPA. We propose that FCA and FPA regulate chromatin silencing of single and low-copy genes and interact in a locus-dependent manner with the canonical small interfering RNA-directed DNA methylation pathway to regulate common targets.     

DNA干扰现象及其作用机理研究进展

与体内某一基因相同的DNA序列可特异性抑制细胞内靶标基因的表达,这种现象称之为DNA干扰(DNAi)。DNAi是随着转录后基因沉默现象而在烟草属植物上被发现,之后在一些动植物及其细胞上也被发现。在原核生物中也存在DNAi现象,且原核生物的Ago在体外也能实现DNAi。原核生物DNAi的机理主要是Ago以DNA为向导切割DNA或RNA,而真核生物可能是基因转录后抑制、基因组甲基化和启动子结合的转录抑制等。本文还对DNAi的进一步研究和应用进行了讨论和展望。     

植物DNA甲基化研究进展

[目的]概述植物DNA甲基化的研究进展。[方法]综述了植物DNA甲基转移酶s、iRNA指导的DNA甲基化过程,阐明了DNA甲基化与其他表观遗传修饰的关系。[结果]DNA甲基化在表观遗传控制体系中起着重要作用,维持着生物进化过程中基因组和表观遗传的稳定性。RNA介导的DNA甲基化作用中s,iRNA起着不可替代的作用,但RdDM和甲基化在基因调控中的作用需要更进一步研究。[结论]全面了解DNA甲基化及其在植物发育和逆境胁迫应答中的作用,可以在转录水平上增强或抑制外源基因和内源基因沉默,便于制定更合理的改良重要转基因作物的策略。     

Dependence of heterochromatic histone H3 methylation patterns on the Arabidopsis gene DDM1

The Arabidopsis gene DDM1 is required to maintain DNA methylation levels and is responsible for transposon and transgene silencing. However, rather than encoding a DNA methyltransferase, DDM1 has similarity to the SWI/SNF family of adenosine triphosphate-dependent chromatin remodeling genes, suggesting an indirect role in DNA methylation. Here we show that DDM1 is also required to maintain histone H3 methylation patterns. In wild-type heterochromatin, transposons and silent genes are associated with histone H3 methylated at lysine 9, whereas known genes are preferentially associated with methylated lysine 4. In ddm1 heterochromatin, DNA methylation is lost, and methylation of lysine 9 is largely replaced by methylation of lysine 4. Because DNA methylation has recently been shown to depend on histone H3 lysine 9 methylation, our results suggest that transposon methylation may be guided by histone H3 methylation in plant genomes. This would account for the epigenetic inheritance of hypomethylated DNA once histone H3 methylation patterns are altered.     

Form and function of retroviral proviruses

Retroviruses have proved to be useful reagents for studying genetic and epigenetic (such as regulatory) changes in eukaryotic cells, for assessing functional and structural relationships between transposable genetic elements, for inducing insertional mutations, including some important in oncogenesis, and for transporting genes into eukaryotic cells, either after natural transduction of putative cellular oncogenes or after experimental construction of recombinant viruses. Many of these properties of retroviruses depend on their capacity to establish a DNA (proviral) form of their RNA genomes as a stable component of host chromosomes, in either somatic or germinal cells.     

植物DNA甲基化与转基因沉默

DNA甲基化是表观遗传修饰的重要形式之一,植物DNA甲基化及其引起的转基因沉默现象的研究对植物基因工程领域的发展有着举足轻重的作用。介绍了植物DNA甲基化作用机理及其过程中至关重要的3种胞嘧啶甲基转移酶：MET1甲基转移酶家族、染色质甲基化酶（CMT）和结构域重排甲基转移酶（DRM）,并阐述了植物DNA甲基化的相关机制,包括RNA介导的DNA甲基化（RdMD）、组蛋白修饰与DNA甲基化和DNA去甲基化。通过分析植物转基因沉默现象与DNA甲基化的关系,提出了克服由DNA甲基化引起的转基因沉默的相关对策。