RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 TET-mediated epimutagenesis of the Arabidopsis thaliana methylome JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 151027 DO 10.1101/151027 A1 Lexiang Ji A1 William T. Jordan A1 Xiuling Shi A1 Lulu Hu A1 Chuan He A1 Robert J. Schmitz YR 2018 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/01/09/151027.abstract AB DNA methylation in the promoters of plant genes sometimes leads to transcriptional repression, and the wholesale removal of DNA methylation as seen in methyltransferase mutants results in drastic changes in gene expression and severe developmental defects. However, many cases of naturally-occurring DNA methylation variations have been reported, whereby the altered expression of differentially methylated genes is responsible for agronomically important traits. The ability to manipulate plant methylomes to generate populations of epigenetically distinct individuals could provide invaluable resources for breeding and research purposes. Here we describe “epimutagenesis”, a novel method to rapidly generate variation of DNA methylation through random demethylation of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome. This method involves the expression of a human Ten-eleven translocation (TET) enzyme, and results in widespread hypomethylation that can be inherited to subsequent generations, mimicking mutants in the maintenance DNA methyltransferase met1. Application of TET-mediated epimutagenesis to agriculturally significant plants may result in differential expression of alleles normally silenced by DNA methylation, uncovering previously hidden phenotypic variations.