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Prevention of early flowering by expression of FLOWERING LOCUS C requires methylation of histone H3 K36

Nature Cell Biology volume 7, pages 1256–1260 (2005)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 02 December 2005

Abstract

Flowering represents a crucial transition from a vegetative to a reproductive phase of the plant life cycle. Despite extensive studies, the molecular mechanisms controlling flowering remain elusive. Although the enzymes involved are unknown, methylation of histone H3 K9 and K27 correlates with repression of FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC), an essential transcriptional repressor involved in flowering time control in Arabidopsis thaliana; in contrast, methylation of H3K4 correlates with FLC activation1,2,3,4. Here we show that loss-of-function of SET DOMAIN GROUP 8 (SDG 8), which encodes a homologue of the yeast SET2 histone methyltransferase, results in reduced dimethylation of histone H3K36, particularly in chromatin associated with the FLC promoter and the first intron, regions that contain essential cis-elements for transcription. sdg8 mutants display reduced FLC expression and flower early, establishing SDG8-mediated H3K36 methylation as a novel epigenetic memory code required for FLC expression in preventing early flowering. This is the first demonstrated role of H3K36 methylation in eukaryote development.

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Figure 1: Loss of SDG8 function causes early flowering.
Figure 2: Effects of sdg8 on gene expression and histone H3 methylation.
Figure 3: ChIP analysis of histone H3 modifications at the FLC locus.
Figure 4: In situ hybridization analysis of SDG8 expression.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Center and the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center for seeds and BAC clone, and K. Richards and H. Huang for helpful comments on the manuscript. Z.Z. is supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the French Ministère de la Recherche et des Nouvelles Technologies, Y.Y. by a research training fellowship from the Association Franco-Chinoise pour la Recherche Scientifique & Technique (AFCRST), and C.W. by a four-month-visiting fellowship from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Research in the W.-H.S. laboratory is supported by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).

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  1. Chengjun Wu

    Present address: Biotechnology Research Institute of Yunnan Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, 650223, People's Republic of China

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  1. Institut de Biologie Moléculaire des Plantes (IBMP), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Louis Pasteur de Strasbourg (ULP), 12 rue du Général Zimmer, Strasbourg Cédex, 67084, France

    Zhong Zhao, Yu Yu, Denise Meyer, Chengjun Wu & Wen-Hui Shen

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Correspondence to Wen-Hui Shen.

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Zhao, Z., Yu, Y., Meyer, D. et al. Prevention of early flowering by expression of FLOWERING LOCUS C requires methylation of histone H3 K36. Nat Cell Biol 7, 1256–1260 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb1329

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