The repressive epigenetic modification H3K27me3 (trimethylation of lysine 27 on histone 3) plays a substantial role in enabling tissue-specific gene expression. Much remains to be understood regarding the establishment and maintenance of H3K27me3-enriched chromatin. CURLY LEAF (CLF) and SWINGER (SWN) are histone-lysine N-methyltransferases that act in separate pathways to promote methylation of lysine 27 on histone 3. Recent work from the lab has revealed that the ATP-dependent chromatin remodeler PICKLE (PKL) acts in a common epigenetic pathway with CLF and indicates that it promotes maintenance of H3K27me3 by promoting chromatin assembly. Based on this precedent, we investigated the relationship between PKL and SWN and whether PKL and SWN act in a synergistic or common pathway. We hypothesize that PKL and SWN work in separate pathways, given previous findings that CLF and SWN act in separate pathways and that PKL acts in a pathway with CLF. To test our hypothesis, we are examining whether double mutant plants lacking SWN and PKL exhibit synergistic phenotypes relative to swn and pkl-1 plants. The phenotypes we are examining include callus formation with varying concentrations of auxin and cytokinin, seed size, and penetrance of the “pickle root” phenotype, which results from expression of embryonic traits in the primary root. The results of these analyses will clarify how PKL interacts with distinct K27 methylation pathways to contribute to gene expression and tissue differentiation in plants.

Epigenetic interactions between methyltransferase SWN and chromatin remodeler PKL

2019 Spring National Meeting

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