Affiliation:
1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, James Cook University of North Queensland, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia
Abstract
Abstract
In the dinoflagellateAmphidinium carterae, photoadaptation involves changes in the transcription of genes encoding both of the major classes of light-harvesting proteins, the peridinin chlorophyll aproteins (PCPs) and the majora/c-containing intrinsic light-harvesting proteins (LHCs). PCP and LHC transcript levels were increased up to 86- and 6-fold higher, respectively, under low-light conditions relative to cells grown at high illumination. These increases in transcript abundance were accompanied by decreases in the extent of methylation of CpG and CpNpG motifs within or near PCP- and LHC-coding regions. Cytosine methylation levels in A. carterae are therefore nonstatic and may vary with environmental conditions in a manner suggestive of involvement in the regulation of gene expression. However, chemically induced undermethylation was insufficient in activating transcription, because treatment with two methylation inhibitors had no effect on PCP mRNA or protein levels. Regulation of gene activity through changes in DNA methylation has traditionally been assumed to be restricted to higher eukaryotes (deuterostomes and green plants); however, the atypically large genomes of dinoflagellates may have generated the requirement for systems of this type in a relatively “primitive” organism. Dinoflagellates may therefore provide a unique perspective on the evolution of eukaryotic DNA-methylation systems.
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Subject
Plant Science,Genetics,Physiology
Cited by
41 articles.
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