Abstract
Cytosine methylation (C meth) is a ubiquitous regulator of gene transcription. The maize gene ZmGRP3 is a notable marker for root initiation, but how its root-specific transcription is regulated is not understood. Here, bisulfite sequencing and a C meth sensitive Southern blot assay were used to show that the transcription of ZmGRP3 was promoted by a reduction in the extent of C meth both in its promoter and in the vicinity of its translation start site. The result was validated by revealing the effect of 5-aza-2-deoxycytidine on the C meth status in various seedling organs. An analysis of methylation patterns indicates that the C meth of cytosine-guanine dinucleotides was the most important determinant of transcription, however, the C meth of CHG or CHH trinucleotides had little influence.
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Abbreviations
- 5-aza-CdR:
-
5-aza-2-deoxycytidine
- BSP:
-
bisulfite sequencing PCR
- C meth:
-
cytosine methylation
- G:
-
guanine
- GRP:
-
glycine-rich proteins
- HpaII/MspI:
-
a pair of isoschizomers
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Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation for the Youth of China (grant No. 31300220), the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation, China (ZR2014CP013), the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China (2015M572001, 2014M550366) and the doctoral scientific research foundation of the Qufu Normal University. The two authors equally contributed to the work.
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Song, Y.G., Dong, W. Possible involvement of DNA methylation in regulating ZmGRP3 tissue-specific expression in maize. Biol Plant 59, 671–676 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10535-015-0535-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10535-015-0535-9