[{"external_id":{"pmid":["40209706"],"isi":["001504744800006"]},"related_material":{"link":[{"description":"News on ISTA website","relation":"press_release","url":"https://ista.ac.at/en/news/from-bacterial-immunity-to-plant-sex/"}]},"pmid":1,"file":[{"date_created":"2025-12-29T13:40:32Z","success":1,"date_updated":"2025-12-29T13:40:32Z","file_name":"2025_Cell_Walker.pdf","creator":"dernst","checksum":"0dcc2feb368dfe7c4890093366b2dacb","access_level":"open_access","relation":"main_file","file_size":11622960,"file_id":"20871","content_type":"application/pdf"}],"author":[{"first_name":"James","full_name":"Walker, James","last_name":"Walker"},{"first_name":"Jingyi","last_name":"Zhang","full_name":"Zhang, Jingyi"},{"full_name":"Liu, Yalin","last_name":"Liu","first_name":"Yalin"},{"first_name":"Shujuan","id":"9724dd9d-f591-11ee-bd51-e97ed0652286","last_name":"Xu","full_name":"Xu, Shujuan"},{"first_name":"Yiming","id":"318e643b-8b61-11ed-b69e-aafa103ec8dd","orcid":"0000-0002-9919-7282","last_name":"Yu","full_name":"Yu, Yiming"},{"last_name":"Vickers","full_name":"Vickers, Martin","first_name":"Martin"},{"id":"fec73395-8b60-11ed-b69e-927fda99c743","first_name":"Weizhi","full_name":"Ouyang, Weizhi","last_name":"Ouyang"},{"full_name":"Tálas, Judit","last_name":"Tálas","first_name":"Judit"},{"last_name":"Dolan","full_name":"Dolan, Liam","first_name":"Liam"},{"first_name":"Keiji","last_name":"Nakajima","full_name":"Nakajima, Keiji"},{"full_name":"Feng, Xiaoqi","orcid":"0000-0002-4008-1234","last_name":"Feng","id":"e0164712-22ee-11ed-b12a-d80fcdf35958","first_name":"Xiaoqi"}],"doi":"10.1016/j.cell.2025.03.014","oa_version":"Published Version","PlanS_conform":"1","issue":"11","publication_status":"published","intvolume":"       188","article_processing_charge":"Yes (via OA deal)","OA_type":"hybrid","user_id":"ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd","title":"Extensive N4 cytosine methylation is essential for Marchantia sperm function","citation":{"short":"J. Walker, J. Zhang, Y. Liu, S. Xu, Y. Yu, M. Vickers, W. Ouyang, J. Tálas, L. Dolan, K. Nakajima, X. Feng, Cell 188 (2025) 2890–2906.e14.","ista":"Walker J, Zhang J, Liu Y, Xu S, Yu Y, Vickers M, Ouyang W, Tálas J, Dolan L, Nakajima K, Feng X. 2025. Extensive N4 cytosine methylation is essential for Marchantia sperm function. Cell. 188(11), 2890–2906.e14.","mla":"Walker, James, et al. “Extensive N4 Cytosine Methylation Is Essential for Marchantia Sperm Function.” <i>Cell</i>, vol. 188, no. 11, Elsevier, 2025, p. 2890–2906.e14, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.03.014\">10.1016/j.cell.2025.03.014</a>.","apa":"Walker, J., Zhang, J., Liu, Y., Xu, S., Yu, Y., Vickers, M., … Feng, X. (2025). Extensive N4 cytosine methylation is essential for Marchantia sperm function. <i>Cell</i>. Elsevier. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.03.014\">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.03.014</a>","ieee":"J. Walker <i>et al.</i>, “Extensive N4 cytosine methylation is essential for Marchantia sperm function,” <i>Cell</i>, vol. 188, no. 11. Elsevier, p. 2890–2906.e14, 2025.","ama":"Walker J, Zhang J, Liu Y, et al. Extensive N4 cytosine methylation is essential for Marchantia sperm function. <i>Cell</i>. 2025;188(11):2890-2906.e14. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.03.014\">10.1016/j.cell.2025.03.014</a>","chicago":"Walker, James, Jingyi Zhang, Yalin Liu, Shujuan Xu, Yiming Yu, Martin Vickers, Weizhi Ouyang, et al. “Extensive N4 Cytosine Methylation Is Essential for Marchantia Sperm Function.” <i>Cell</i>. Elsevier, 2025. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.03.014\">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.03.014</a>."},"project":[{"name":"Establishment, modulation and inheritance of sexual lineage specific DNA methylation in plants","grant_number":"804981","call_identifier":"H2020","_id":"bdb51a6e-d553-11ed-ba76-c2025f3d5725"}],"volume":188,"file_date_updated":"2025-12-29T13:40:32Z","date_updated":"2026-04-28T13:36:51Z","day":"29","type":"journal_article","publication_identifier":{"issn":["0092-8674"],"eissn":["1097-4172"]},"year":"2025","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"date_published":"2025-05-29T00:00:00Z","has_accepted_license":"1","department":[{"_id":"XiFe"}],"month":"05","publication":"Cell","status":"public","oa":1,"corr_author":"1","isi":1,"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","acknowledged_ssus":[{"_id":"Bio"},{"_id":"ScienComp"}],"quality_controlled":"1","ddc":["570"],"OA_place":"publisher","tmp":{"legal_code_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","short":"CC BY (4.0)","name":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)","image":"/images/cc_by.png"},"_id":"19602","date_created":"2025-04-20T22:01:28Z","page":"2890-2906.e14","scopus_import":"1","publisher":"Elsevier","ec_funded":1,"acknowledgement":"We thank Sir Richard Roberts (NEB) for the kind gift of anti-4mC antibodies. We are also grateful to the JIC Small Molecule Mass Spectrometry (Lionel Hill) and Chemistry (Martin Rejzek) platforms as well as the High Resolution Metabolomics Laboratory (Manfred Beckmann, Aberystwyth University) for their assistance with LC-MS. Additionally, we acknowledge the assistance of the JIC Bioimaging Facility and ISTA Imaging and Optics Facility for microscopy. Finally, we appreciate the High Performance Computing resources provided by the ISTA Scientific Computing Facility and Norwich BioScience Institute Partnership Computing Infrastructure. This work was funded by a Sainsbury Charitable Foundation studentship (J.W.), a UKRI-BBSRC Doctoral Training Partnerships studentship (BBT0087171 to J.T.), a European Research Council Starting Grant (“SexMeth” 804981 to J.W., S.X., and X.F.), two Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) grants (BBS0096201 and BBP0135111 to J.Z., M.V., and X.F.), an EMBO Long Term Fellowship (Y.L.), an ISTA Bridge Fellowship (S.X.), and ISTA core funding (Y.Y. and X.F.).","article_type":"original","abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"N4-methylcytosine (4mC) is an important DNA modification in prokaryotes, but its relevance and even its presence in eukaryotes have been mysterious. Here we show that spermatogenesis in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha involves two waves of extensive DNA methylation reprogramming. First, 5-methylcytosine (5mC) expands from transposons to the entire genome. Notably, the second wave installs 4mC throughout genic regions, covering over 50% of CG sites in sperm. 4mC requires a methyltransferase (MpDN4MT1a) that is specifically expressed during late spermiogenesis. Deletion of MpDN4MT1a alters the sperm transcriptome, causes sperm swimming and fertility defects, and impairs post-fertilization development. Our results reveal extensive 4mC in a eukaryote, identify a family of eukaryotic methyltransferases, and elucidate the biological functions of 4mC in reproductive development, thereby expanding the repertoire of functional eukaryotic DNA modifications."}]},{"_id":"15375","tmp":{"legal_code_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","short":"CC BY (4.0)","name":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)","image":"/images/cc_by.png"},"OA_place":"publisher","scopus_import":"1","page":"1829-1843","date_created":"2024-05-12T22:01:01Z","abstract":[{"text":"In the eukaryotic nucleus, heterochromatin forms highly condensed, visible foci known as heterochromatin foci (HF). These HF are enriched with linker histone H1, a key player in heterochromatin condensation and silencing. However, it is unknown how H1 aggregates HF and condenses heterochromatin. In this study, we established that H1 facilitates heterochromatin condensation by enhancing inter- and intrachromosomal interactions between and within heterochromatic regions of the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) genome. We demonstrated that H1 drives HF formation via phase separation, which requires its C-terminal intrinsically disordered region (C-IDR). A truncated H1 lacking the C-IDR fails to form foci or recover HF in the h1 mutant background, whereas C-IDR with a short stretch of the globular domain (18 out of 71 amino acids) is sufficient to rescue both defects. In addition, C-IDR is essential for H1's roles in regulating nucleosome repeat length and DNA methylation in Arabidopsis, indicating that phase separation capability is required for chromatin functions of H1. Our data suggest that bacterial H1-like proteins, which have been shown to condense DNA, are intrinsically disordered and capable of mediating phase separation. Therefore, we propose that phase separation mediated by H1 or H1-like proteins may represent an ancient mechanism for condensing chromatin and DNA.","lang":"eng"}],"acknowledgement":"This work was funded by ISTA core support (Y.Y. and X.F.) and grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31871443 to L.W. and P.L.; 32100417 to L.W.).\r\nWe thank the ISTA Imaging and Optics Facility for assistance with microscopy and the ISTA Scientific Computing Facility for high-performance computing resources.","article_type":"original","publisher":"Oxford University Press","corr_author":"1","isi":1,"month":"05","publication":"The Plant Cell","status":"public","oa":1,"ddc":["580"],"quality_controlled":"1","acknowledged_ssus":[{"_id":"Bio"},{"_id":"ScienComp"}],"publication_identifier":{"eissn":["1532-298X"]},"year":"2024","type":"journal_article","file_date_updated":"2025-04-23T07:43:12Z","day":"01","date_updated":"2025-09-08T07:21:17Z","has_accepted_license":"1","department":[{"_id":"XiFe"}],"language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"date_published":"2024-05-01T00:00:00Z","OA_type":"hybrid","user_id":"317138e5-6ab7-11ef-aa6d-ffef3953e345","article_processing_charge":"Yes (via OA deal)","volume":36,"title":"Linker histone H1 drives heterochromatin condensation via phase separation in Arabidopsis","citation":{"apa":"He, S., Yu, Y., Wang, L., Zhang, J., Bai, Z., Li, G., … Feng, X. (2024). Linker histone H1 drives heterochromatin condensation via phase separation in Arabidopsis. <i>The Plant Cell</i>. Oxford University Press. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koae034\">https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koae034</a>","chicago":"He, Shengbo, Yiming Yu, Liang Wang, Jingyi Zhang, Zhengyong Bai, Guohong Li, Pilong Li, and Xiaoqi Feng. “Linker Histone H1 Drives Heterochromatin Condensation via Phase Separation in Arabidopsis.” <i>The Plant Cell</i>. Oxford University Press, 2024. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koae034\">https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koae034</a>.","ieee":"S. He <i>et al.</i>, “Linker histone H1 drives heterochromatin condensation via phase separation in Arabidopsis,” <i>The Plant Cell</i>, vol. 36, no. 5. Oxford University Press, pp. 1829–1843, 2024.","ama":"He S, Yu Y, Wang L, et al. Linker histone H1 drives heterochromatin condensation via phase separation in Arabidopsis. <i>The Plant Cell</i>. 2024;36(5):1829-1843. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koae034\">10.1093/plcell/koae034</a>","ista":"He S, Yu Y, Wang L, Zhang J, Bai Z, Li G, Li P, Feng X. 2024. Linker histone H1 drives heterochromatin condensation via phase separation in Arabidopsis. The Plant Cell. 36(5), 1829–1843.","mla":"He, Shengbo, et al. “Linker Histone H1 Drives Heterochromatin Condensation via Phase Separation in Arabidopsis.” <i>The Plant Cell</i>, vol. 36, no. 5, Oxford University Press, 2024, pp. 1829–43, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koae034\">10.1093/plcell/koae034</a>.","short":"S. He, Y. Yu, L. Wang, J. Zhang, Z. Bai, G. Li, P. Li, X. Feng, The Plant Cell 36 (2024) 1829–1843."},"issue":"5","publication_status":"published","intvolume":"        36","doi":"10.1093/plcell/koae034","author":[{"first_name":"Shengbo","last_name":"He","full_name":"He, Shengbo"},{"full_name":"Yu, Yiming","last_name":"Yu","id":"318e643b-8b61-11ed-b69e-aafa103ec8dd","first_name":"Yiming"},{"last_name":"Wang","full_name":"Wang, Liang","first_name":"Liang"},{"first_name":"Jingyi","full_name":"Zhang, Jingyi","last_name":"Zhang"},{"last_name":"Bai","full_name":"Bai, Zhengyong","first_name":"Zhengyong"},{"first_name":"Guohong","last_name":"Li","full_name":"Li, Guohong"},{"last_name":"Li","full_name":"Li, Pilong","first_name":"Pilong"},{"id":"e0164712-22ee-11ed-b12a-d80fcdf35958","first_name":"Xiaoqi","full_name":"Feng, Xiaoqi","last_name":"Feng","orcid":"0000-0002-4008-1234"}],"file":[{"success":1,"date_updated":"2025-04-23T07:43:12Z","date_created":"2025-04-23T07:43:12Z","creator":"dernst","file_name":"2024_PlantCell_He.pdf","checksum":"eed76c848fe3d8fe9a53943181aaa53c","file_size":50791962,"content_type":"application/pdf","file_id":"19611","relation":"main_file","access_level":"open_access"}],"oa_version":"Published Version","external_id":{"pmid":["38309957"],"isi":["001180817000001"]},"pmid":1}]