Gene body methylation (gbM) is when DNA methylation occurs within the exons of a gene, rather than its promoter. While promoter methylation typically suppresses gene expression, gbM functions by preventing spurious transcription initiation, enhancing transcriptional efficiency, and guaranteeing consistent expression levels of housekeeping genes. A recent study on gbM in plants has established its role as a regulator that limits transcriptional noise by reducing variability in gene expression and ensuring accurate metabolic function.
Using mutants and epigenetic recombinant inbred lines of Arabidopsis thaliana, it was found that gbM significantly reduces interindividual transcriptional noise. The study compared noise levels between MET1 mutant plants, which lack CG methylation, and wild type plants. The results show that gene expression noise increased with the loss of gbM, confirming gbM’s direct role in stabilising gene expression.
Overall, this study verifies the purpose of DNA methylation by showing a link between DNA methylation in gene bodies and variability in gene expression. Understanding this is not only important for a basic understanding of gene expression, but it also gives a better understanding of what can limit or prevent gene expression in plants. This opens up the possibility of new methods to manage or control gene expression in biotechnology and synthetic biology.
Source:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12910109/#SEC4
Additional:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168952526000934#s1005
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