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Originally published in Science Express on 29 January 2009
Science 20 March 2009:
Vol. 323. no. 5921, pp. 1600 - 1604
DOI: 10.1126/science.1165313
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Reports

A Role for RNAi in the Selective Correction of DNA Methylation Defects

Felipe Karam Teixeira,1,2 Fabiana Heredia,1 Alexis Sarazin,2 François Roudier,1,2 Martine Boccara,1,2 Constance Ciaudo,3,4 Corinne Cruaud,5 Julie Poulain,5 Maria Berdasco,6 Mario F. Fraga,6* Olivier Voinnet,3 Patrick Wincker,5 Manel Esteller,6 Vincent Colot1,2{dagger}

DNA methylation is essential for silencing transposable elements and some genes in higher eukaryotes, which suggests that this modification must be tightly controlled. However, accidental changes in DNA methylation can be transmitted through mitosis (as in cancer) or meiosis, leading to epiallelic variation. We demonstrated the existence of an efficient mechanism that protects against transgenerational loss of DNA methylation in Arabidopsis. Remethylation is specific to the subset of heavily methylated repeats that are targeted by the RNA interference (RNAi) machinery. This process does not spread into flanking regions, is usually progressive over several generations, and faithfully restores wild-type methylation over target sequences in an RNAi-dependent manner. Our findings suggest an important role for RNAi in protecting genomes against long-term epigenetic defects.

1 Unité de Recherche en Génomique Végétale, CNRS UMR 8114, Institut National de la Recherche Argonomique UMR 1165, Université d'Evry Val d'Essonne, 91057 Evry Cedex, France.
2 CNRS UMR 8186, Département de Biologie, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 75230 Paris Cedex 05, France.
3 Institut de Biologie Moléculaire des Plantes, CNRS Unité Propre de Recherche 2357, 67084 Strasbourg Cedex, France.
4 CNRS UMR 218, Institut Curie, 75248 Paris Cedex 05, France.
5 Génoscope, Commissariat à L'Energie Atomique–Institut de Génomique, 91057 Evry Cedex, France.
6 Laboratorio de Epigenética del Cáncer, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas, 28029 Madrid, Spain.

* Present address: Immunología y Oncología, Centro Nacional Biotecnología, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: colot{at}biologie.ens.fr

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