ChIP-seq of histone marks (H3K27me1, H3K27me3, H3K9me2) and of the H2A.W histone variant in Arabidopsis pol2a mutants.. ChIP-seq of histone marks (H3K27me1, H3K27me3, H3K9me2) and of the H2A.W histone variant in Arabidopsis pol2a mutants.

DNA replication requires the faithful propagation of both genetic and epigenetic information. There is evidence that DNA polymerases play a role in transcriptional silencing, but the extent of their contribution and how it relates to heterochromatin maintenance is unclear. Analyzing a new hypomorphic pol2a mutant allele, we find that POL2A, the catalytic subunit of the DNA polymerase epsilon, maintains heterochromatin silencing and nuclear organization. We also found that POL2A inhibits DNA methylation. Using ChIP-seq in wild-type and pol2a mutants, we analyzed how this related to changes in heterochromatic histone modifications (H3K27me1, H3K27me3, H3K9me2) and H2A.W heterochromatic histone variant.