Redundant AGO-hook platforms and AGO4-DNA interaction in polV-directed RdDM

Small RNA-dependent pairing of AGO/PIWI-containing effector complexes to chromatin-bound nascent transcripts has been proposed as a universal mechanism for guiding RNA-mediated TGS in eukaryotes. Likewise, Pol V-dependent transcripts have been implicated in the targeting of AGO4 to chromatin in RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) in plants. Here, we show that the AGO hook platforms of PolV and SPT5L, another component of the transcriptional complex, are functionally redundant yet essential for RdDM at a genome-wide level. Synthesis of Pol V transcripts is uncoupled from AGO4 recruitment in AGO hook-minus plants, challenging the prevailing RNA-based mechanism of AGO4 targeting to chromatin in RdDM. Transcription is essential to lock the PolV transcription complex into a stable and productive DNA-bound state potentiating interactions of AGO4 with DNA. Consistent with this idea, laser UV-assisted crosslinking shows specific AGO4-DNA interaction at RdDM loci, suggesting a revised model for Pol V-mediated DNA methylation in plants, which explains the exquisite specificity of methylation. Three sequencing replicates (denoted 131213, 140123, and 140506) were carried out for wild-type, mutant, and transgenic lines. The data from each replicate was merged for each genotype to generate processed data files and the main figures from the study.