RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 The Histone H3K4 Demethylase JMJ16 Represses Leaf Senescence in Arabidopsis JF The Plant Cell JO Plant Cell FD American Society of Plant Biologists SP tpc.00693.2018 DO 10.1105/tpc.18.00693 A1 Liu, Peng A1 Zhang, Shuaibin A1 Zhou, Bing A1 Luo, Xi A1 Zhou, Xiaofeng A1 Cai, Bin A1 Jin, Yin Hua A1 Niu, De A1 Lin, Jinxing A1 Cao, Xiaofeng A1 Jin, Jing Bo YR 2019 UL http://www.plantcell.org/content/early/2019/02/01/tpc.18.00693.abstract AB Leaf senescence is governed by a complex regulatory network involving dynamic reprogramming of gene expression. Age-dependent induction of senescence-associated genes (SAGs) is associated with increased level of trimethylation of histone H3 at lysine 4 (H3K4me3), but the regulatory mechanism remains elusive. We found that JMJ16, an Arabidopsis JmjC-domain containing protein, is a specific H3K4 demethylase that negatively regulates leaf senescence through its activity. Genome-wide analysis revealed a widespread coordinated up-regulation of gene expression and hyper-methylation of H3K4me3 at JMJ16 binding genes associated with leaf senescence in the loss-of-function jmj16 mutant compared with the wild type. Genetic analysis indicated that JMJ16 negatively regulates leaf senescence at least partly through repressing the expression of positive regulators of leaf senescence, WRKY53 and SAG201. JMJ16 associates with WRKY53 and SAG201, and represses precocious expression of WRKY53 and SAG201 in mature leaves by reducing H3K4me3 levels at these loci. Interestingly, association of JMJ16 on WRKY53 and SAG201 loci increased at mature stage but decreased at later stage, suggesting that the age-dependent dynamic chromatin association of JMJ16 is required for precise transcriptional activation of SAGs during leaf senescence. Thus, JMJ16 is an important regulator of leaf senescence that demethylates H3K4 at SAGs in an age-dependent manner.