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Plant Cell Advance Online Publication
Published on January 31, 2008; 10.1105/tpc.107.057083

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Received November 20, 2007
Returned for revision January 7, 2008
Accepted January 15, 2008

Epigenetic Modification of Centromeric Chromatin: Hypomethylation of DNA Sequences in the CENH3-Associated Chromatin in Arabidopsis thaliana and Maize

Wenli Zhang 1, Hye-Ran Lee 1, Dal-Hoe Koo 1, and Jiming Jiang 1*

1 Department of Horticulture, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jjiang1{at}wisc.edu.

The centromere in eukaryotes is defined by the presence of a special histone H3 variant, CENH3. Centromeric chromatin consists of blocks of CENH3-containing nucleosomes interspersed with blocks of canonical H3-containing nucleosomes. However, it is not known how CENH3 is precisely deposited in the centromeres. It has been suggested that epigenetic modifications of the centromeric chromatin may play a role in centromere identity. The centromeres of Arabidopsis thaliana are composed of megabase-sized arrays of a 178-bp satellite repeat. Here, we report that the 178-bp repeats associated with the CENH3-containing chromatin (CEN chromatin) are hypomethylated compared with the same repeats located in the flanking pericentromeric regions. A similar hypomethylation of DNA in CEN chromatin was also revealed in maize (Zea mays). Hypomethylation of the DNA in CEN chromatin is correlated with a significantly reduced level of H3K9me2 in Arabidopsis. We demonstrate that the 178-bp repeats from CEN chromatin display a distinct distribution pattern of the CG and CNG sites, which may provide a foundation for the differential methylation of these repeats. Our results suggest that DNA methylation plays an important role in epigenetic demarcation of the CEN chromatin.




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