Niu Lifang, Lu Falong, Pei Yanxi, Liu Chunyan, Cao Xiaofeng
State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics and Center for Plant Gene Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Datun Road, Beijing 100101, China.
EMBO Rep. 2007 Dec;8(12):1190-5. doi: 10.1038/sj.embor.7401111. Epub 2007 Nov 16.
In plants, histone H3 lysine methyltransferases are important in gene silencing and developmental regulation; however, the roles of histone H4 methylation in plant development remain unclear. Recent studies found a type II histone arginine methyltransferase, AtPRTM5, which is involved in promoting growth and flowering. Here, we purified a dimerized plant-specific histone H4 methyltransferase, plant histone arginine methyltransferase 10 (PHRMT10), from cauliflower. Arabidopsis thaliana protein arginine methyltransferase 10 (AtPRMT10)--the Arabidopsis homologue of PHRMT10--was shown to be a type I PRMT, which preferentially asymmetrically methylated histone H4R3 in vitro. Genetic disruption of AtPRMT10 resulted in late flowering by upregulating FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) transcript levels. In addition, we show that AtPRMT10 functions genetically separate from AtPRMT5, but that each acts to fine-tune expression of FLC. This work adds an extra layer of complexity to flowering-time regulation and also sheds light on the importance of asymmetric arginine methylation in plant development.
在植物中，组蛋白H3赖氨酸甲基转移酶在基因沉默和发育调控中起着重要作用；然而，组蛋白H4甲基化在植物发育中的作用仍不清楚。最近的研究发现了一种II型组蛋白精氨酸甲基转移酶AtPRTM5，它参与促进生长和开花。在这里，我们从花椰菜中纯化了一种二聚化的植物特异性组蛋白H4甲基转移酶——植物组蛋白精氨酸甲基转移酶10（PHRMT10）。拟南芥蛋白精氨酸甲基转移酶10（AtPRMT10）——PHRMT10的拟南芥同源物——被证明是一种I型PRMT，它在体外优先不对称地甲基化组蛋白H4R3。AtPRMT10的基因破坏通过上调开花位点C（FLC）转录水平导致开花延迟。此外，我们表明AtPRMT10在遗传上与AtPRMT5分开发挥作用，但它们各自都对FLC的表达进行微调。这项工作为开花时间调控增加了一层额外的复杂性，也揭示了不对称精氨酸甲基化在植物发育中的重要性。
