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Arabidopsis Co-Repressor Complexes Containing Polyamine Oxidase-Like Proteins and Plant-Specific Histone Methyltransferases

Alexander Krichevsky, Stanislav V. Kozlovsky, Helen Gutgarts and Vitaly Citovsky

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Regulation of genes by repression of transcription represents a virtually universal mechanism that underlies such diverse biological processes as restriction of expression of neuronal genes to neurons in mammals, and control of flowering in plants. However, while the molecular mechanisms of transcriptional gene silencing in animal systems are being intensively studied, our understanding of these processes in plants is very sparse and, because plants often utilize unique strategies to establish and maintain chromatin state, only limited use can be made of information available on epigenetic modifications in non-plant systems. Our recent work identified two Arabidopsis factors, a SWIRM domain polyamine oxidase (PAO)-like protein, AtSWP1, and a plant-specific C2H2 zinc finger-SET domain histone methyltransferase (HMT), AtCZS, that interact with each other in plant cells and repress target gene(s) by histone hypoacetylation and generation of heterochromatic histone methylation marks. Thus, AtSWP1 and AtCZS were suggested to represent two main components of a co-repressor complex. Here, we discuss these finding in the context of our knowledge of animal co-repressor complexes, speculate on potential components of the AtSWP1/AtCZS co-repressor complex that are unique to plants, and propose a working structure/function model of Arabidopsis PAO/HMT-containing co-repressor complexes.

Authors

Alexander Krichevsky

State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY

Stanislav V. Kozlovsky

State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY

Helen Gutgarts

State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY

Vitaly Citovsky

State University of New York at Stony Brook
Stony Brook, New York, U.S.A.

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If the document does not open, please right-click on the link (control-click on a Macintosh) and select the option to save the file to disk.