JMJ24 targets CHROMOMETHYLASE3 for proteasomal degradation in Arabidopsis

  1. Nam-Hai Chua1
  1. 1Laboratory of Plant Molecular Biology, Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10065, USA;
  2. 2Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National University of Singapore, 117604 Singapore
  1. Corresponding author: chua{at}mail.rockefeller.edu
  • 3 Present address: Department of Burns and Cutaneous Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, China.

Abstract

H3K9 methylation is usually associated with DNA methylation, and together they symbolize transcriptionally silenced heterochromatin. A number of proteins involved in epigenetic processes have been characterized. However, how the stability of these proteins is regulated at the post-translational level is largely unknown. Here, we show that an Arabidopsis JmjC domain protein, JMJ24, possesses ubiquitin E3 ligase activity. JMJ24 directly targets a DNA methyltransferase, CHROMOMETHYLASE 3 (CMT3), for proteasomal degradation to initiate destabilization of the heterochromatic state of endogenous silenced loci. Our results uncover an additional connection between two conserved epigenetic modifications: histone modification and DNA methylation.

Keywords

Footnotes

  • Received November 9, 2015.
  • Accepted December 18, 2015.

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