The BAF60 Subunit of the SWI/SNF Chromatin-Remodeling Complex Directly Controls the Formation of a Gene Loop at FLOWERING LOCUS C in Arabidopsis

JEGU, T; LATRASSE, D; DELARUE, M; HIRT, H; DOMENICHINI, S; ARIEL, FD; CRESPI, M; BERGOUNIOUX, C; RAYNAUD, C; BENHAMED, M

PLANT CELL

AMER SOC PLANT BIOLOGISTS

Lugar: Rockville; Año: 2014 vol. 26 p. 538 - 551

1040-4651

SWI/SNF complexes mediate ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling to regulate gene expression. Many components of these complexes are evolutionarily conserved, and several subunits of Arabidopsis thaliana SWI/SNF complexes are involved in the control of flowering, a process that depends on the floral repressor FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC). BAF60 is a SWI/SNF subunit, and in this work, we show that BAF60, via a direct targeting of the floral repressor FLC, induces a change at the highorder chromatin level and represses the photoperiod flowering pathway in Arabidopsis. BAF60 accumulates in the nucleusand controls the formation of the FLC gene loop by modulation of histone density, composition, and posttranslational modification. Physiological analysis of BAF60 RNA interference mutant lines allowed us to propose that this chromatinremodeling protein creates a repressive chromatin configuration at the FLC locus.