The NRPD1 N-terminus contains a Pol IV-specific motif that is critical for genome surveillance in Arabidopsis

Nucleic Acids Research
Laura FerrafiatTodd Blevins

Abstract

RNA-guided surveillance systems constrain the activity of transposable elements (TEs) in host genomes. In plants, RNA polymerase IV (Pol IV) transcribes TEs into primary transcripts from which RDR2 synthesizes double-stranded RNA precursors for small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) that guide TE methylation and silencing. How the core subunits of Pol IV, homologs of RNA polymerase II subunits, diverged to support siRNA biogenesis in a TE-rich, repressive chromatin context is not well understood. Here we studied the N-terminus of Pol IV's largest subunit, NRPD1. Arabidopsis lines harboring missense mutations in this N-terminus produce wild-type (WT) levels of NRPD1, which co-purifies with other Pol IV subunits and RDR2. Our in vitro transcription and genomic analyses reveal that the NRPD1 N-terminus is critical for robust Pol IV-dependent transcription, siRNA production and DNA methylation. However, residual RNA-directed DNA methylation observed in one mutant genotype indicates that Pol IV can operate uncoupled from the high siRNA levels typically observed in WT plants. This mutation disrupts a motif uniquely conserved in Pol IV, crippling the enzyme's ability to inhibit retrotransposon mobilization. We propose that the NRPD1 N-termin...Continue Reading

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Citations

Sep 18, 2020·Nucleic Acids Research·Guillaume HummelLaurence Drouard
Mar 24, 2021·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Vibhor MishraCraig S Pikaard
Mar 24, 2021·Annual Review of Plant Biology·Andrzej T WierzbickiSzymon Swiezewski

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Datasets Mentioned

BETA
PRJNA510791

Methods Mentioned

BETA
in vitro transcription
genotyping
X-ray
reverse transcription PCR
electrophoresis
RNA-seq
PCR
WGBS
transgenic

Software Mentioned

Cutadapt
hmmsearch
ShortStack
Geneious
Fasteris
R
ggplot2
Bowtie
BSseq R package
MUSCLE

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