AtPRMT5 regulates shoot regeneration through modulating multiple genes expression analyzed by RNA-seq

Protein arginine methylation plays essential roles in diverse biological processes, but its role in regulating shoot regeneration remains elusive. In this study, we analyzed the function of the protein arginine methyltransferase AtPRMT5 during de novo shoot regeneration in Arabidopsis. AtPRMT5 encodes a type II PRMT that methylates proteins, including histones and RNA splicing factors. Mutation of AtPMRT5 decreased the frequency of shoot regeneration and number of shoots per callus in the atprmt5 mutant compared with those of the wild type. To understand the mechanism of AtPRMT5 regulation of shoot regeneration, we analyzed the transcript levels of wild type and the mutant atprmt5 calli during shoot regeneration by RNA-seq. Three biological repeats of wild type and the mutant atprmt5-1 calli were used for RNA sequencing. Total RNAs were isolated from the calli of wild type Col and the mutant atprmt5-1 cultured on cultured on shoot-induction medium. The RNA-seq llibraries were constructed with TruSeq Stranded mRNA Library Prep Kit and sequenced using the Illumina Hiseq 2500. The raw reads were aligned to the genome sequences of TAIR10 using Tophat software. The gene expression levels were measured in RPKM, and many critical genes regulated by AtPRMT5 were identified to be involved in shoot regeneration.