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SUMMARY:Towards Direct Epigenomic and Expression Profiling of Plant Meiosi
 s - Sebastien Andreuzza
DTSTART:20160613T150000Z
DTEND:20160613T160000Z
UID:TALK66401@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Ian Henderson
DESCRIPTION:Meiosis is a specialized division essential for sexual reprodu
 ction\, as it produces haploid cells that will differentiate into gametes.
  As a developmental program\, meiosis is characterized by high levels of c
 hromosome recombination and a modified cell cycle. While the functions of 
 the genes that carry these tasks are reasonably well studied across models
 \, much less is known about the factors and mechanisms that control and re
 gulate their expression\, except in yeast. In yeast\, environmental condit
 ions activate master transcription factors\, which trigger a transcription
  cascade that drives meiotic progression. However\, the yeast factors are 
 not conserved and we know very little about their counterparts in plants a
 nd animals. In Arabidopsis\, DUET (also known as MMD1)\, encodes a PHD fin
 ger protein essential for male meiosis. PHD fingers are often found in chr
 omatin readers that are involved in transcription regulation. We found tha
 t DUET is indeed required for proper expression of a subset of meiotic gen
 es. Further characterization of DUET and identification of a direct target
 \, suggests that regulation of gene expression is linked with meiotic prog
 ression as in yeast\, and points to a possible role for histone modificati
 ons in the process. Histone modifications\, as well as other epigenetic ma
 rks of chromatin\, have already been shown to play a role in recombination
 \, suggesting an important role for epigenetic mechanisms in meiosis. We n
 ext plan to directly isolate meiotic cells and establish their chromatin a
 nd expression profiles in order to further elucidate the controls of meios
 is and sexual reproduction in plants. 
LOCATION:Large Lecture Theatre\, Department of Plant Sciences
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