Relationship between allelic state of T-DNA and DNA methylation of chromosomal integration region in transformed Arabidopsis thaliana plants

T-DNA insertions are currently used as a tool to introduce, or knock out, specific genes. The expression of the inserted gene is frequently haphazard and up to now, it was proposed that transgene expression depends on the site of insertion within the genome, as well as the number of copies of the tr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Plant molecular biology 2005-06, Vol.58 (3), p.295-303
Main Authors: Masclaux, F.G, Pont-Lezica, R, Galaud, J.P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agrobacterium tumefaciens
Alleles
Arabidopsis
Arabidopsis - genetics
Arabidopsis Proteins
Arabidopsis Proteins - genetics
Arabidopsis thaliana
Base Sequence
Binding Sites
Binding Sites - genetics
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology
Chromosomes, Plant
Chromosomes, Plant - genetics
Comparative Study
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
DNA Methylation
DNA, Bacterial
DNA, Bacterial - genetics
gene silencing
genes
genetic recombination
genetic transformation
Genomics
Germination
Germination - genetics
Homozygote
insertional mutagenesis
Life Sciences
Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
Models, Genetic
Molecular Sequence Data
Mutagenesis, Insertional
Mutation
Phenotype
promoter regions
Promoter Regions (Genetics)
Promoter Regions, Genetic - genetics
receptors
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
seed germination
Seeds
Seeds - genetics
Seeds - growth & development
Seeds - ultrastructure
transfer DNA
transferred DNA insertion
transgenic plants
vacuolar sorting receptor
vacuoles
Vesicular Transport Proteins
Vesicular Transport Proteins - genetics
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Summary:T-DNA insertions are currently used as a tool to introduce, or knock out, specific genes. The expression of the inserted gene is frequently haphazard and up to now, it was proposed that transgene expression depends on the site of insertion within the genome, as well as the number of copies of the transgene. In this paper, we show that the allelic state of a T-DNA insertion can be at the origin of epigenetic silencing. A T-DNA insertional mutant was characterized to explore the function of AtBP80a', a vacuolar sorting receptor previously associated with germination. Seeds homozygous for the T-DNA do not germinate, but this can be overcome by a cold treatment and maintained by the following generations. The non-germinating phenotype is only observed in homozygous seed produced by heterozygous plants indicating that it is correlated with the allelic state of the T-DNA in parental lines. Analysis of the region between the T-DNA insertion and the ATG codon of atbp80a' showed that cytosine methylation is highly enhanced in chromatin containing the T-DNA. Data presented here show that an unpaired DNA region during meiosis could be at the origin of a de novo cytosine methylation mechanism.
ISSN:0167-4412
1573-5028
DOI:10.1007/s11103-005-4808-0