Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Mar;10(3):453-5.
doi: 10.4161/rna.23542. Epub 2013 Jan 16.

Revisiting RNA-directed DNA methylation

Athanasios Dalakouras  1 , Michael Wassenegger
Affiliations

Revisiting RNA-directed DNA methylation

Athanasios Dalakouras et al. RNA Biol. 2013 Mar.

Abstract

RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) involves sequence-specific guiding of the de novo methylation machinery to complementary genomic DNA by RNA molecules. It is still elusive whether guide RNAs bind directly to DNA or to nascent transcripts produced from it. Even the nature of the guide RNAs is not elucidated. RNA interference (RNAi) studies provided a link between RNAi and RdDM indicating that small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) trigger and guide cytosine methylation. The "siRNA hypothesis" is generally accepted. However, recent data demonstrated that RdDM is not always associated with the accumulation of corresponding siRNAs. RdDM triggers may differ from guide RNAs and further studies are needed to clarify if guide RNAs are small or long RNAs, if they are single or double stranded and if they target DNA or nascent transcript.

Keywords: DNA methylation; DNA-DEPENDENT RNA POLYMERASEs; RNA interference; double stranded RNA; methylC-seq; plants; small RNAs.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Matzke M, Mette MF, Jakowitsch J, Kanno T, Moscone EA, van der Winden J, et al. A test for transvection in plants: DNA pairing may lead to trans-activation or silencing of complex heteroalleles in tobacco. Genetics. 2001;158:451–61. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wassenegger M, Heimes S, Riedel L, Sänger HL. RNA-directed de novo methylation of genomic sequences in plants. Cell. 1994;76:567–76. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(94)90119-8. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pélissier T, Thalmeir S, Kempe D, Sänger HL, Wassenegger M. Heavy de novo methylation at symmetrical and non-symmetrical sites is a hallmark of RNA-directed DNA methylation. Nucleic Acids Res. 1999;27:1625–34. doi: 10.1093/nar/27.7.1625. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Matzke M, Aufsatz W, Kanno T, Daxinger L, Papp I, Mette MF, et al. Genetic analysis of RNA-mediated transcriptional gene silencing. Biochim Biophys Acta 2004; 1677:129-41;; 10.1016/j.bbaexp.2003.10.015 - PubMed
    1. Jones L, Ratcliff F, Baulcombe DC. RNA-directed transcriptional gene silencing in plants can be inherited independently of the RNA trigger and requires Met1 for maintenance. Curr Biol. 2001;11:747–57. doi: 10.1016/S0960-9822(01)00226-3. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources