---
OA_place: repository
OA_type: green
_id: '12193'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: DNA methylation regulates eukaryotic gene expression and is extensively reprogrammed
    during animal development. However, whether developmental methylation reprogramming
    during the sporophytic life cycle of flowering plants regulates genes is presently
    unknown. Here we report a distinctive gene-targeted RNA-directed DNA methylation
    (RdDM) activity in the Arabidopsis thaliana male sexual lineage that regulates
    gene expression in meiocytes. Loss of sexual-lineage-specific RdDM causes mis-splicing
    of the MPS1 gene (also known as PRD2), thereby disrupting meiosis. Our results
    establish a regulatory paradigm in which de novo methylation creates a cell-lineage-specific
    epigenetic signature that controls gene expression and contributes to cellular
    function in flowering plants.
acknowledgement: We thank Daniel Zilberman for intellectual contributions to this
  work and assistance with manuscript preparation. We also thank Caroline Dean, Kirsten
  Bomblies, Vinod Kumar, Siobhan Brady and Sophien Kamoun for comments on the manuscript,
  Hugh Dickinson and Josephine Hellberg for developing the meiocyte isolation method,
  Giles Oldroyd for the pGWB13-Bar vector, Elisa Fiume for the pMDC107-NTF vector,
  Matthew Hartley, Matthew Couchman and Tjelvar Sten Gunnar Olsson for bioinformatics
  support, and the John Innes Centre Bioimaging Facility (Elaine Barclay and Grant
  Calder) for their assistance with microscopy. This work was funded by a Biotechnology
  and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) David Phillips Fellowship (BBL0250431)
  to X.F., a BBSRC grant (BBM01973X1) to J.H., and a Sainsbury PhD Studentship to
  J.W.
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: James
  full_name: Walker, James
  last_name: Walker
- first_name: Hongbo
  full_name: Gao, Hongbo
  last_name: Gao
- first_name: Jingyi
  full_name: Zhang, Jingyi
  last_name: Zhang
- first_name: Billy
  full_name: Aldridge, Billy
  last_name: Aldridge
- first_name: Martin
  full_name: Vickers, Martin
  last_name: Vickers
- first_name: James D.
  full_name: Higgins, James D.
  last_name: Higgins
- first_name: Xiaoqi
  full_name: Feng, Xiaoqi
  id: e0164712-22ee-11ed-b12a-d80fcdf35958
  last_name: Feng
  orcid: 0000-0002-4008-1234
citation:
  ama: Walker J, Gao H, Zhang J, et al. Sexual-lineage-specific DNA methylation regulates
    meiosis in Arabidopsis. <i>Nature Genetics</i>. 2017;50(1):130-137. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-017-0008-5">10.1038/s41588-017-0008-5</a>
  apa: Walker, J., Gao, H., Zhang, J., Aldridge, B., Vickers, M., Higgins, J. D.,
    &#38; Feng, X. (2017). Sexual-lineage-specific DNA methylation regulates meiosis
    in Arabidopsis. <i>Nature Genetics</i>. Nature Research. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-017-0008-5">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-017-0008-5</a>
  chicago: Walker, James, Hongbo Gao, Jingyi Zhang, Billy Aldridge, Martin Vickers,
    James D. Higgins, and Xiaoqi Feng. “Sexual-Lineage-Specific DNA Methylation Regulates
    Meiosis in Arabidopsis.” <i>Nature Genetics</i>. Nature Research, 2017. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-017-0008-5">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-017-0008-5</a>.
  ieee: J. Walker <i>et al.</i>, “Sexual-lineage-specific DNA methylation regulates
    meiosis in Arabidopsis,” <i>Nature Genetics</i>, vol. 50, no. 1. Nature Research,
    pp. 130–137, 2017.
  ista: Walker J, Gao H, Zhang J, Aldridge B, Vickers M, Higgins JD, Feng X. 2017.
    Sexual-lineage-specific DNA methylation regulates meiosis in Arabidopsis. Nature
    Genetics. 50(1), 130–137.
  mla: Walker, James, et al. “Sexual-Lineage-Specific DNA Methylation Regulates Meiosis
    in Arabidopsis.” <i>Nature Genetics</i>, vol. 50, no. 1, Nature Research, 2017,
    pp. 130–37, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-017-0008-5">10.1038/s41588-017-0008-5</a>.
  short: J. Walker, H. Gao, J. Zhang, B. Aldridge, M. Vickers, J.D. Higgins, X. Feng,
    Nature Genetics 50 (2017) 130–137.
date_created: 2023-01-16T09:18:05Z
date_published: 2017-12-18T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-03-19T10:51:18Z
day: '18'
department:
- _id: XiFe
doi: 10.1038/s41588-017-0008-5
extern: '1'
external_id:
  pmid:
  - '29255257'
intvolume: '        50'
issue: '1'
keyword:
- Genetics
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
  url: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7611288/
month: '12'
oa: 1
oa_version: Submitted Version
page: 130-137
pmid: 1
publication: Nature Genetics
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 1546-1718
  issn:
  - 1061-4036
publication_status: published
publisher: Nature Research
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Sexual-lineage-specific DNA methylation regulates meiosis in Arabidopsis
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 50
year: '2017'
...