2017 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report

Role of a novel DNA demethylation enzyme in cellular memory

Research Project

Project/Area Number	15K18558
Research Institution	University of Tsukuba
Principal Investigator	ブザスディアナ・ミハエラ筑波大学, 生命環境系, 准教授 (00616229)
Project Period (FY)	2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
Keywords	DNA methylation
Outline of Annual Research Achievements	Iron is assembled inside cells into cofactors, essential for biological functions. Two types of cofactors, iron sulfur clusters and diferric tyrosyl radicals, share a conserved assembly complex containing the DRE2 enzyme, essential for cell viability in eukaryotes. In the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, dre2 mutants are lethal, having a maternal defect related to active DNA demethylation in the central cell gamete. In addition, dre2 mutants have a zygotic defect leading to embryo arrest. However, neither of these defects is fully penetrant.Homozygote mutants were recovered using complementation with a promoter specific to the central cell maternal gamete. This allowed the characterisation of a range of　novel molecular and phenotypic abnormalities associated with lack of DRE2 function. Surprisingly, dre2 mutants have additional reproductive phenotypes. Also, DNA methylation defects at three genes normally targeted by DNA glycosilases for DNA demethylation were found in vegetative cells. This suggests that DRE2 has a function in DNA demethylation in vegetative as well as reproductive phase.

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