MORC family ATPases required for heterochromatin condensation and gene silencing

Transposable elements (TEs) and DNA repeats are commonly targeted by DNA and histone methylation to achieve epigenetic gene silencing. We isolated mutations in two Arabidopsis genes, CRT1 and CRH6, which cause de-repression of DNA-methylated genes and TEs, but no losses of DNA or histone methylation. CRT1 and CRH6 are members of the conserved Microrchidia (MORC) ATPase family, predicted to catalyze alterations in chromosome superstructure. The crt1 and crh6 mutants show decondensation of pericentromeric heterochromatin, increased interaction of pericentromeric regions with the rest of the genome, and transcriptional defects that are largely restricted to loci residing in pericentromeric regions. Knockdown of the single MORC homolog in Caenorhabditis elegans also impairs transgene silencing. We propose that the MORC ATPases are conserved regulators of gene silencing in eukaryotes. For Col wild type control and each of two T-DNA mutants, a single sample each of small RNA (sRNA), mRNA-Seq, 5'-methylcytosine DNA methylation (BS-Seq), ChIP H3K9me2 histone methylation, and ChIP H3 histone control. For each of two EMS mutants, and as controls, their respective backgrounds, two batches of single mRNA samples, with the first batch also having a single mRNA sample for a double EMS mutant. For a wild type control and crh6 mutant strain, Hi-C was performed to characterize genome organization.