Establishment and Modulation of DNA Methylation Patterns During Plant Development

Within any given organism, each cell has essentially identical genetic material, yet not all cells behave similarly. One source of this remarkable variety is the presence of chemical tags, like DNA methylation, that decorate the genome and play roles in many important biological processes including gene regulation, transposon silencing, and imprinting. While it is known that the patterns of DNA methylation can differ between tissues or cell types, how such patterns are generated and how they influence gene expression patterns remain poorly understood. As aberrant DNA methylation patterns are associated with developmental defects in plants and with numerous diseases in humans, understanding these aspects of epigenetic regulation are of critical importance. Using the plant model, Arabidopsis thaliana, the lab discovered a family of four related chromatin remodeling factors that control DNA methylation patterns in a locus- and tissue-specific manner. Based on new insights gained during the characterization of these chromatin regulators, this proposal seeks to identify new factors important for DNA methylation and to understand the roles of transcription factors, chromatin modifications, and heterochromatin formation in regulating DNA methylation patterns specifically in reproductive tissues. Understanding the regulation of DNA methylation in reproductive tissues is of particular importance as they influence methylation patterns in the developing seed and can affect the inheritance of methylation patterns between generations. Addressing these aspects of epigenetic regulation will not only be important for understanding the roles of DNA methylation during normal growth and development, but they will also provide insights into the causes and consequences of dysregulation within DNA methylation pathways. Arabidopsis thaliana is an ideal system to study epigenetic processes, like DNA methylation, as it is genetically malleable, has a small genome that is highly amenable to genome-wide analyses, and is tolerant of dramatic changes in its epigenetic landscape. In addition, many of the key players and pathways involved in establishing, maintaining, and reading epigenetic modifications are conserved between plants and mammals. Given these similarities, our findings regarding how specific methylation patterns are generated and modulated during development, will be applicable to analogous processes in mammals. Project Number: 1R35GM164182-01 | Fiscal Year: 2026 | NIH Institute/Center: National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) | Principal Investigator: Julie Law | Institution: SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES, La Jolla, CA | Award Amount: $515,625 | Activity Code: R35 | Study Section: Special Emphasis Panel[ZRG1 MGG-D (55)] View on NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11331755