Plant Cell Advance Online Publication
Published on March 10, 2006; 10.1105/tpc.105.038836
Received October 14, 2005
Returned for revision January 18, 2006
Accepted February 16, 2006
DNA Methylation Is Critical for Arabidopsis Embryogenesis and Seed Viability
Wenyan Xiao 1, Kendra D. Custard 1, Roy C. Brown 2, Betty E. Lemmon 2, John J. Harada 3, Robert B. Goldberg 4, and Robert L. Fischer 1*
1 Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720
2 Department of Biology, University of Louisiana, Lafayette, Louisiana 70504
3 Section of Plant Biology, Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, Davis, California 95616
4 Department of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: rfischer{at}berkeley.edu.
DNA methylation (5-methylcytosine) in mammalian genomes predominantly occurs at CpG dinucleotides, is maintained by DNA methyltransferase1 (Dnmt1), and is essential for embryo viability. The plant genome also has 5-methylcytosine at CpG dinucleotides, which is maintained by METHYLTRANSFERASE1 (MET1), a homolog of Dnmt1. In addition, plants have DNA methylation at CpNpG and CpNpN sites, maintained, in part, by the CHROMOMETHYLASE3 (CMT3) DNA methyltransferase. Here, we show that Arabidopsis thaliana embryos with loss-of-function mutations in MET1 and CMT3 develop improperly, display altered planes and numbers of cell division, and have reduced viability. Genes that specify embryo cell identity are misexpressed, and auxin hormone gradients are not properly formed in abnormal met1 embryos. Thus, DNA methylation is critical for the regulation of plant embryogenesis and for seed viability.
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