Silencing of transposons in plant genomes: kick them when they're down

Daniel Zilberman; Steven Henikoff

doi:10.1186/gb-2004-5-12-249

Silencing of transposons in plant genomes: kick them when they're down

Genome Biol. 2004;5(12):249. doi: 10.1186/gb-2004-5-12-249. Epub 2004 Nov 16.

Authors

Daniel Zilberman¹, Steven Henikoff

Affiliation

¹ Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Basic Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109, USA.

Abstract

Recent progress in understanding the silencing of transposable elements in the model plant Arabidopsis has revealed an interplay between DNA methylation, histone methylation and small interfering RNAs. DNA and histone methylation are not always sufficient to maintain silencing, and RNA-based reinforcement can be needed to maintain as well as initiate it.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Arabidopsis / genetics*
Arabidopsis Proteins / metabolism
Chromatin / metabolism
DNA Methylation
DNA Transposable Elements / genetics*
DNA-Cytosine Methylases / metabolism
Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
Gene Silencing*
Genome, Plant*
Histones / metabolism

Substances

Arabidopsis Proteins
Chromatin
DNA Transposable Elements
Histones
DNA-Cytosine Methylases
CMT3 protein, Arabidopsis