The Histone Variant H3.3 Is Required for Plant Growth and Fertility in Arabidopsis

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 25; no. 5; p. 2549
• Main Authors: Long, Xiaogang, Yang, Wandong, Lv, Yanfang, Zhong, Xiaoming, Chen, Lin, Li, Qingzhu, Lv, Zhaopeng, Li, Yanzhuo, Cai, Yajun, Yang, Hongchun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 22-02-2024; MDPI
• Subjects: Arabidopsis; Arabidopsis - genetics; Arabidopsis Proteins - genetics; Biosynthesis; Cell cycle; Chromosomes; CRISPR; Fertility; filament elongation; Gene expression; histone variant H3.3; Histones - metabolism; Infertility; JAZ; Mutation; Plant growth; Plant Growth Regulators - metabolism; rosette growth; Seeds; Transcription Factors - metabolism; filament elongation; rosette growth; JAZ; Arabidopsis; histone variant H3.3
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms25052549

Histones are the core components of the eukaryote chromosome, and have been implicated in transcriptional gene regulation. There are three major isoforms of histone H3 in
. Studies have shown that the H3.3 variant is pivotal in modulating nucleosome structure and gene transcription. However, the function of H3.3 during development remains to be further investigated in plants. In this study, we disrupted all three
genes in
. Two triple mutants,
and
were created by the CRISPR/Cas9 system. The mutant plants displayed smaller rosettes and decreased fertility. The stunted growth of
may result from reduced expression of cell cycle regulators. The shorter stamen filaments, but not the fertile ability of the gametophytes, resulted in reduced fertility of
. The transcriptome analysis suggested that the reduced filament elongation of
was probably caused by the ectopic expression of several
(
) genes, which are the key repressors of the signaling pathway of the phytohormone jasmonic acid (JA). These observations suggest that the histone variant H3.3 promotes plant growth, including rosette growth and filament elongation.