IC4R001-Epigenomic-2008-18263775

Project Title

• High-Resolution Mapping of Epigenetic Modifications of the Rice Genome Uncovers Interplay between DNA Methylation, Histone Methylation, and Gene Expression

The Background of This Project

• In eukaryotic nuclei, DNA associates with proteins to form chro- matin. It first wraps around core histones to form nucleosomes that, in turn, are often organized into higher-ordered structures. Chromatin structure plays an essential role in genome organization, transcriptional activity, and memory of developmental state (Bernstein et al., 2002). While all cells in an individual have the same nuclear genome, each cell type may harbor a distinct epigenome, which relies on heritable, often reversible, DNA methylation at cytosines and histone modifications (Richards, 1997).
• Rice (Oryza sativa) is an important model species for cereals and other monocotyledonous plants. Two prominent features of most rice chromosomes are their clear organization into hetero- chromatic and euchromatic regions and the large amount of pericentromeric heterochromatin. For example, cytological studies using 49,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole staining indicate that approximately half of chromosomes 4 and 10 is the more densely stained heterochromatin, including their entire short arms and the proximal portions of their long arms (Cheng et al., 2001; Yan and Jiang, 2007). Global repression of transcription in rice heterochromatin has been observed, but the molecular basis is unknown (Jiao et al., 2005; Li et al., 2006). Completion of the rice genome sequence (International Rice Genome Sequencing Project, 2005) provides an unprecedented opportunity to examine epigenetic modifications comprehensively and correlate them with gene expression.

Labs working on this Project

• National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing 102206, China
• Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520
• Peking-Yale Joint Research Center of Plant Molecular Genetics and Agrobiotechnology, College of Life Sciences,Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
• Genome Research Facility, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California 94035
• Department of Horticulture, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706

Corresponding Author

• Xing Wang Deng (E-mail: xingwang.deng@yale.edu)