Cdk Activity Couples Epigenetic Centromere Inheritance to Cell Cycle Progression

Centromeres form the site of chromosome attachment to microtubules during mitosis. Identity of these loci is maintained epigenetically by nucleosomes containing the histone H3 variant CENP-A. Propagation of CENP-A chromatin is uncoupled from DNA replication initiating only during mitotic exit. We now demonstrate that inhibition of Cdk1 and Cdk2 activities is sufficient to trigger CENP-A assembly throughout the cell cycle in a manner dependent on the canonical CENP-A assembly machinery. We further show that the key CENP-A assembly factor Mis18BP1(HsKNL2) is phosphorylated in a cell cycle-dependent manner that controls its centromere localization during mitotic exit. These results strongly support a model in which the CENP-A assembly machinery is poised for activation throughout the cell cycle but kept in an inactive noncentromeric state by Cdk activity during S, G2, and M phases. Alleviation of this inhibition in G1 phase ensures tight coupling between DNA replication, cell division, and subsequent centromere maturation.

Reprogramming of DNA Methylation in Pollen Guides Epigenetic Inheritance via Small RNA

Epigenetic inheritance is more widespread in plants than in mammals, in part because mammals erase epigenetic information by germline reprogramming. We sequenced the methylome of three haploid cell types from developing pollen: the sperm cell, the vegetative cell, and their precursor, the postmeiotic microspore, and found that unlike in mammals the plant germline retains CG and CHG DNA methylation. However, CHH methylation is lost from retrotransposons in microspores and sperm cells and restored by de novo DNA methyltransferase guided by 24 nt small interfering RNA, both in the vegetative nucleus and in the embryo after fertilization. In the vegetative nucleus, CG methylation is lost from targets of DEMETER (DME), REPRESSOR OF SILENCING 1 (ROS1), and their homologs, which include imprinted loci and recurrent epialleles that accumulate corresponding small RNA and are premethylated in sperm. Thus genome reprogramming in pollen contributes to epigenetic inheritance, transposon silencing, and imprinting, guided by small RNA.

Reprogramming of DNA Methylation in Pollen Guides Epigenetic Inheritance via Small RNA

Epigenetic inheritance is more widespread in plants than in mammals, in part because mammals erase epigenetic information by germline reprogramming. We sequenced the methylome of three haploid cell types from developing pollen: the sperm cell, the vegetative cell, and their precursor, the postmeiotic microspore, and found that unlike in mammals the plant germline retains CG and CHG DNA methylation. However, CHH methylation is lost from retrotransposons in microspores and sperm cells and restored by de novo DNA methyltransferase guided by 24 nt small interfering RNA, both in the vegetative nucleus and in the embryo after fertilization. In the vegetative nucleus, CG methylation is lost from targets of DEMETER (DME), REPRESSOR OF SILENCING 1 (ROS1), and their homologs, which include imprinted loci and recurrent epialleles that accumulate corresponding small RNA and are premethylated in sperm. Thus genome reprogramming in pollen contributes to epigenetic inheritance, transposon silencing, and imprinting, guided by small RNA.