The oxidation of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), 5-formylcytosine (5fC), and 5-carboxylcytosine (5caC), known as oxi-mCs, garners significant interest in plants as potential epigenetic marks. While research in mammals has established a role in cell reprogramming, carcinogenesis, and gene regulation, their functions in plants remain unclear. In rice, 5hmC has been associated with transposable elements (TEs) and heterochromatin. This study utilizes Silene latifolia, a dioecious plant with heteromorphic sex chromosomes and a genome with a large proportion of TEs, which provides a favourable environment for the study of oxi-mCs in individual sexes. Notably, we detected surprisingly high levels of oxi-mCs in S. latifolia comparable with mammals. Nuclei showed enrichment in heterochromatic regions, except for 5hmC whose signal was homogeneously distributed. Intriguingly, the same X chromosome in females displayed overall enrichment of 5hmC and 5fC compared with its counterpart. This fact is shared with 5mC, resembling dosage compensation. Co-localization showed higher correlation between 5mC and 5fC than with 5hmC, indicating no potential relationship between 5hmC and 5fC. Additionally, the promoter of several sex-linked genes and sex-biased TEs clustered in a clear sex-dependent way. Together, these findings unveil a hypothetical role for oxi-mCs in S. latifolia sex chromosome development, warranting further exploration.

• Klíčová slova
• Silene latifolia, Cytosine modifications, dosage compensation, oxi-mCs, sex chromosomes, transposable elements,
• MeSH
• 5-methylcytosin metabolismus   analogy a deriváty   MeSH
• chromozomy rostlin * genetika   MeSH
• epigeneze genetická MeSH
• pohlavní chromozomy * genetika   MeSH
• Silene * genetika   MeSH
• transpozibilní elementy DNA genetika   MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• Názvy látek
• 5-methylcytosin MeSH
• transpozibilní elementy DNA MeSH

Telomere homeostasis is regulated at multiple levels, including the local chromatin structure of telomeres and subtelomeres. Recent reports demonstrated that a decrease in repressive chromatin marks, such as levels of cytosine methylation in subtelomeric regions, results in telomere elongation in mouse cells. Here we show that a considerable fraction of cytosines is methylated not only in subtelomeric, but also in telomeric DNA of tobacco BY-2 cells. Drug-induced hypomethylation (demonstrated at subtelomeric, telomeric, and global DNA levels) results in activation of telomerase. However, in contrast to mouse cells, the decrease in 5-methylcytosine levels and upregulation of telomerase do not result in any changes of telomere lengths. These results demonstrate the involvement of epigenetic mechanisms in the multilevel process of regulation of telomerase activity in plant cells and, at the same time, they indicate that changes in telomerase activity can be overridden by other factors governing telomere length stability.

• MeSH
• adenin analogy a deriváty   farmakologie   MeSH
• aktivace enzymů účinky léků   MeSH
• cytidin analogy a deriváty   farmakologie   MeSH
• DNA rostlinná chemie   účinky léků   MeSH
• epigeneze genetická MeSH
• genetická transkripce účinky léků   MeSH
• kultivované buňky MeSH
• metylace DNA účinky léků   MeSH
• nukleozomy účinky léků   fyziologie   MeSH
• rostlinné proteiny genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• tabák cytologie   účinky léků   genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• telomerasa metabolismus   MeSH
• telomery chemie   účinky léků   metabolismus   MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• 9-(2,3-dihydroxypropyl)adenine MeSH Prohlížeč
• adenin MeSH
• cytidin MeSH
• DNA rostlinná MeSH
• nukleozomy MeSH
• pyrimidin-2-one beta-ribofuranoside MeSH Prohlížeč
• rostlinné proteiny MeSH
• telomerasa MeSH