Phys.org May 20, 2021
An international team of researchers (USA – Cold Springs Harbor, Canada, France) discovered that after baby plants remove the epigenetic modifications, the SUVH9 protein puts back the ones they need to survive. Without SUVH9, plants develop poorly because the wrong genes turn on at the wrong time. The SUVH9 protein uses small snippets of RNA to look for the right places to reinstall the beneficial modifications, which are on mobile genetic elements known as transposons. The SUVH9 protein adds the epigenetic modifications to them, and this ensures nearby genes are turned off at the right time. Reinstalling the beneficial modifications also stops the transposons from jumping around in the genome and disrupting other genes. The scientists think SUVH9 protein contributed to today’s plant diversity. By stopping harmful transposons from disrupting genes, the protein allowed different species to evolve…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
…SUVH9 is a protein that helps silence transposons by adding epigenetic modifications to them… Credit: Parent/Martienssen lab, CSHL/2021