Journal
RNA BIOLOGY
Volume 10, Issue 10, Pages 1593-1596Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC
DOI: 10.4161/rna.26312
Keywords
RdDM; histone modification; DNA methylation; siRNA; lncRNA
Categories
Funding
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- National Institutes of Health [R01GM070795, R01GM059138]
- National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) [2012CB910900]
- Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology [2011CB812600]
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Plants use 24-nucleotide small interfering RNAs (24-nt siRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) to direct de novo DNA methylation and transcriptional gene silencing. This process is called RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM). An important question in the RdDM model is what explains the target specificity of RNA polymerase IV (Pol IV), the enzyme that initiates siRNA production. Two recent papers addressed this question by characterizing the DTF1/SHH1 protein, which contains a homeodomain in the N-terminus and a novel histone-binding domain SAWADEE in the C terminus. Here we review the main results of the two studies and discuss several possible mechanisms that could contribute to Pol IV and Pol V recruitment.
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