Targeted 3′ Processing of Antisense Transcripts Triggers Arabidopsis FLC Chromatin Silencing

Abstract

Flowery Regulator Control of gene transcription is multilayered, depending on transcription factors, epigenetic mechanisms, and interactions with small RNA molecules. Liu et al. (p. 94 , published online 3 December) have now found that for the FLOWERING LOCUS C ( FLC ) gene of the plant Arabidopsis , a backwards transcript of the gene conspires with 3′ RNA-processing tools and histone demethylation to regulate the transcription of the protein-coding gene. The 3′-processing events require the antisense, not the sense, RNA transcript. It is then the sense transcript that, in the end, regulates onset of flowering.