Deciphering extrachromosomal circular DNA in Arabidopsis

Extrachromosomal circular DNA (eccDNA) is independent of the chromosome and exists in many eukary-otes. However, the nature and origin of eccDNA in plants remains unclear. In this study, we sequenced 12 samples from four tissues (leaf, flower, stem and root) with three biological replicates. In total, we found 743 eccDNAs found in at least two samples. Most of eccDNA have inverted repeats ranging from 4 to 12 bp in the boundaries. Interestingly, eccDNA is not only related to transposon activity, but also hosts tRNA genes, suggesting that the eccDNAs may be associated with tRNA abundance which controls protein synthesis under conditions of stress. Our results provide an unprecedented view of eccDNA, which is still naive in scope. (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Research Network of Computational and Structural Biotechnology.

Automated summary

This study provides insights into the nature and origin of eccDNA in plants, showing that eccDNA is not only related to transposon activity, but also contains tRNA genes, suggesting a potential link to tRNA abundance and protein synthesis control under stress conditions.