Poster: Chromatin Remodeling & Epigenetics

Abs # 1026: A reversible histone code is associated with gene activation and silencing during plant developmentw

Presenter:	Tian, Lu , ltian@neo.tamu.edu
Authors	Tian, Lu  (A)   Fong, Paulus  (A)   Wang, Jianlin  (A)   Wang, Joe  (A)   Chen, Z.Jeffrey  (A)
Affiliations:	(A): Texas A&M University

Disruption of Arabidopsis thaliana histone deacetylase 1 (AtHD1) expression induces developmental pleiotropy in Arabidopsis, indicating that AtHD1 either directly or indirectly affects gene expression. To determine the role of a reversible histone code in plant gene regulation and development, we show that approximately several hundred genes were either up- or down-regulated in the athd1-t1 lines using AFLP-cDNA display and oligo-microarray containing 26,090 70-mer oligos. Significantly, the expression of many homeotic genes important to plant development is affected; consistent with the developmental abnormalities observed in the AtHD1 disruption lines. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays indicate that the activated genes are associated with increased levels of core histone acetylation, whereas repressed genes are related to hypoacetylation, providing direct evidence for the role of a reversible histone code in the control of gene regulation and development.