A noncoding RNA transcribed from the AGAMOUS (AG) second intron binds to CURLY LEAF and represses AG expression in leaves

Abstract

Dispersed H3K27 trimethylation (H3K27me3) of the AGAMOUS (AG) genomic locus is mediated by CURLY LEAF (CLF), a component of the Polycomb Repressive Complex (PRC) 2. Previous reports have shown that the AG second intron, which confers AG tissue-specific expression, harbors sequences targeted by several positive and negative regulators. Using RACE reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, we found that the AG intron 2 encodes several noncoding RNAs. RNAi experiment showed that incRNA4 is needed for CLF repressive activity. AG-incRNA4RNAi lines showed increased leaf AG mRNA levels associated with a decrease of H3K27me3 levels; these plants displayed AG overexpression phenotypes. Genetic and biochemical analyses demonstrated that the AG-incRNA4 can associate with CLF to repress AG expression in leaf tissues through H3K27me3-mediated repression and to autoregulate its own expression level. The mechanism of AG-incRNA4-mediated repression may be relevant to investigations on tissue-specific expression of Arabidopsis MADS-box genes.