Histone modifications and the Arabidopsis thaliana circadian clock
The circadian system has a regulatory role in almost all aspects of a plant's life. In Arabidopsis thaliana, almost 36% of the genome has been shown to be circadianly regulated and many genes that are circadianly regulated have been shown to be light responsive or involved in light responses. Rhythmic histone acetylation has been demonstrated in the promoter of TIMING OF CAB EXPRESSION1 (TOC1). Here, I used semi-quantitative Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (semi-quantitative RT -PCR) to investigate which enzymes are involved in the rhythmic expression of TOC1. I also determined whether loss-of-function histone acetylation and methylation mutants could affect the overall functioning of the circadian oscillator by measuring their circadian leaf movement and delayed fluorescence (DF) rhythms. GCN5/ HAG1 mutant plants (gcn5) exhibited erratic TOC1 expression in both constant dark (DD) and constant light (LL) conditions. Although TOC1 expression appeared to be rhythmic in both DD and LL conditions, the waveform of the rhythm was altered in TATA-binding protein associated factor 1 (taf1) mutants. This suggested that TAF1 and GCN5 might play different roles in the rhythmic histone acetylation affecting TOC1 expression. DF data and leaf movement data indicated that both TAF1 and GCN5 might play a role in the overall functioning of the A. thaliana circadian clock. Arrhythmic TOC1 expression and DF was observed in histone deacetylase 1 (hd1) mutants, suggesting that HD1 is not only involved in the rhythmic histone deacetylation affecting TOC1 expression but in the overall functioning of the circadian clock. Semi-quantitative RTPCR, DF and leaf movement studies demonstrated that CURLY LEAF (CLF), a histone methylase is involved in both the histone methylation affecting TOC1 expression and in the overall functioning of the A. thaliana circadian clock.
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Department of Molecular and Cell Biology