Crucial function of histone lysine methylation in plant reproduction

• 来源期刊: 科学通报(英文版)
• 学科: 生物学
• 年，卷（期）: 2011,（33）
• 页码范围: 3493-3499
• 页数: 7页
• 分类号: Q945.5
• 语种: 中文

摘要

Unlike animals, plants do not set aside germ cells early in development. In angiosperm species, reproduction occurs in the adult plant upon flowering. The multicellular male and female gametophytes differentiate from meiotic products within reproductive floral organs. Double fertilization is another remarkable feature of most angiosperm species. The zygote derived from fertilization of the egg cell by one of the sperm cells and the endosperm from fertilization of the central cell by the second sperm cell develop in a coordinated manner together and enclosed in the sporophytic maternal integuments, forming the seed. Understanding plant reproduction is biologically pertinent and agronomically and ecologically important. Here, we describe the known functions of histone lysine methylations in various steps of reproduction in the reference plant Arabidopsis thaliana. It is emerging that histone lysine methylation is key for understanding epigenetic regulation networks of genome function.