Transcription profiling of wild-type and epic2 mutant plants

Chromatin and its covalent modifications play important roles during development. However, how different types of chromatin regulators individually control gene expression in different cell types has so far not been investigated in detail. To explore their role in these processes we performed forward and reverse genetic experiments using an epigenetically silenced reporter gene in Arabidopsis. We found three chromatin regulators, each involved in different epigenetic pathways, to control reporter gene expression in distinct tissues and cell-types. Here we report on the roles of the RNA polymerase Pol V, the histone deacetylase HDA6 and the SWI/SNF class chromatin remodeler SPLAYED (SYD) in silencing expression of the reporter in different cell-types. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a highly conserved domain in HDA6 is involved in its target specificity. And we present data showing that SYD controls transcription of epigenetically silenced genes. The results presented here provide evidence supporting the notion that tissue specificity of gene expression and its fine-tuning can be influenced by the activity of different chromatin regulators. 2 samples, 3 biological replicates each