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Updated: May 4, 2026

Determination of DNA Methylation of Imprinted Genes in Arabidopsis Endosperm
Published on: January 29, 2011
RNA-directed de novo methylation of genomic sequences in plants
M Wassenegger1, S Heimes, L Riedel
1Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie, Abteilung Viroidforschung, Martinsried, Federal Republic of Germany.
Abstract:
One monomeric and three oligomeric potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) cDNA units were introduced into the tobacco genome via the Agrobacterium-mediated leaf-disc transformation. Southern analysis of the integrates revealed that only their PSTVd-specific sequences become fully methylated, whereas the flanking T-DNA and the genomic plant DNA remain unaltered. Viroid cDNA methylation could only be observed after autonomous viroid RNA-RNA replication had taken place in these plants. These findings demonstrate that a mechanism of de novo methylation of genes might exist that can be induced and targeted in a sequence-specific manner by their own mRNA.
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