Distinct Mechanisms Determine Transposon Inheritance and Methylation via Small Interfering RNA and Histone Modification
Figure 1
Inheritance of Transposon Activity
Pollen from homozygous mutant plants (m/m) was crossed onto WT (+/+) to generate backcrossed BC heterozygous seed (m/+). The parents were also self-pollinated as a control. Each class of progeny was then tested for expression of transposon mRNA, loss of DNA methylation, and changes in histone H3 methylation. Accumulation of transposon mRNA (+) or lack thereof (−) in each progeny genotype was used to determine whether the elements were silent (“cryptic”), reversibly activated, or heritably activated (“preset”).