Abstract
Plant life-long organogenesis involves sequential, time and tissue specific expression of developmental genes. This requires activities of Polycomb Group (PcG) and trithorax Group complexes (trxG), respectively responsible for repressive Histone 3 trimethylation at lysine 27 (H3K27me3) and activation-related Histone 3 trimethylation at lysine 4 (H3K4me3). However, the genome-wide dynamics in histone modifications that occur during developmental processes have remained elusive. Here, we report the distributions of H3K27me3 and H3K4me3 along with expression changes, in a developmental series including Arabidopsis thaliana leaf and three stages of flower development. We found that chromatin mark levels are highly dynamic over the time series on nearly half of all Arabidopsis genes. Moreover, during early flower morphogenesis, changes in H3K4me3 prevail over changes in H3K27me3 and quantitatively correlate with expression changes, while H3K27me3 changes occur later. Notably, we found that H3K4me3 increase during the early activation of PcG target genes while H3K27me3 level remain relatively constant at the locus. Our results reveal that H3K4me3 predicts changes in gene expression better than H3K27me3, unveil unexpected chromatin mechanisms at gene activation and underline the relevance of tissue-specific temporal epigenomics.
Highlights
Morphogenesis in plants relies on continuous and iterative production of new organs with specific functions
To assess the correlation between changes in expression patterns and dynamics of histone marks during early flower development, we employed the ap1cal 35S::APETALA 1 (AP1)-GR floral induction system introduced in Wellmer et al [26] (Figure 1A; Figure S1)
A suitable time point to study the early events of flower formation is one at which (i) changes in expression are already detectable for important regulators of flower development; and (ii) floral organ identity genes did not reach their full expression level, to enable observation of transition states from repression to activation
Summary
Morphogenesis in plants relies on continuous and iterative production of new organs with specific functions. In annual plants like Arabidopsis thaliana, upon transition to the reproductive phase, flower primordia are produced at the flanks of the inflorescence meristem. In these primordia, stem cell activity is re-established and the newly formed flower meristems produce founder cells for the different floral organs [1]. Stem cell activity is re-established and the newly formed flower meristems produce founder cells for the different floral organs [1] These cell-fate specifications coincide with changes in the expression pattern of developmental regulators [2].
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