Identification of Pol IV and RDR2-dependent precursors of 24 nt siRNAs guiding de novo DNA methylation in Arabidopsis
- Université de Strasbourg, France
- Indiana University, United States
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Indiana University, United States
Abstract
In Arabidopsis thaliana, abundant 24 nt siRNAs guide the cytosine methylation and silencing of transposons and a subset of genes. 24 nt siRNA biogenesis requires nuclear RNA Polymerase IV (Pol IV), RNA-DEPENDENT RNA POLYMERASE 2 (RDR2) and DICER-LIKE3 (DCL3). However, siRNA precursors are mostly undefined. We identified Pol IV and RDR2-dependent RNAs (P4R2 RNAs) that accumulate in dcl3 mutants and are diced into 24 nt RNAs by DCL3 in vitro. P4R2 RNAs are mostly 26-45 nt and initiate with a purine adjacent to a pyrimidine, characteristics shared by Pol IV transcripts generated in vitro. RDR2 terminal transferase activity, also demonstrated in vitro, may account for occasional non-templated nucleotides at P4R2 RNA 3' termini. 24 nt siRNAs primarily correspond to the 5' or 3' ends of P4R2 RNAs, suggesting a model whereby siRNAs are generated from either end of P4R2 duplexes by single dicing events.
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© 2015, Blevins et al.
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Identification of Pol IV and RDR2-dependent precursors of 24 nt siRNAs guiding de novo DNA methylation in Arabidopsis
eLife 4:e09591.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.09591
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