Genetic and Epigenetic Regulation of Plant Development

• Published in: Žurnal Sibirskogo federalʹnogo universiteta. Seriâ Biologiâ (Online) Vol. 3; no. 2; pp. 109 - 129
• Main Authors: Sergey S., Medvedev, Elena I., Sharova
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Siberian Federal University 01-06-2010
• Subjects: DNA and histone modifications; epigenetics; microRNA; plant development; small RNA; transcription factors
• ISSN: 1997-1389; 2313-5530
• DOI: 10.17516/1997-1389-0206

The completion of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome sequencing in 2000 was the key event in plant biology. Over the past 10 years, genomes of another three plant species (rice, alfalfa and poplar) were almost completely sequenced. The sequencing of maize, wheat, barley, vine and tomato genomes is in progress. It is arising a new science - genomics, that investigates nucleotide composition of genome, principles of individual genes and their complexes functioning, as well as genome evolution. Biology turns into so called post-genomic period of its history, in which predominant researches start with genome and protein sequencing and complete with determination of individual genes and proteins functions, and their evolutionary origin too. On the other hand, genes activity depends not only on the transcription factors specific to the given genes but also on the whole complex of factors able to directly or indirectly influence chromatin structure. For this reason, realization of information enclosed in genome depends not only on nucleotide sequence of given genes but also on environment, chromatin state, modifications of DNA and its transcripts, i.e. it is under epigenetic control. Epigenetic state of plant organisms is determined by levels and patterns of DNA methylation, post-translational modifications of histones, the presence of histone variants and chromatin compaction. Recently discovered noncoding microRNAs, playing key role in genes silencing by cleavage of genes transcripts or by repression of mRNA translation, may serve as a kind of «switches» for cell developmental programs. It is becoming evident that small RNAs perform a wealth of key functions in eukaryotic organisms, and therefore it is now impossible to use the simple scheme «DNA-RNA-protein» for description of genome work. In the article, it is discussed the role that transcription factors, small RNAs, modifications of DNA and chromatin play in the regulation of plant growth and development.