J Integr Plant Biol ›› 2022, Vol. 64 ›› Issue (12): 2217-2239.DOI: 10.1111/jipb.13423

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  • 收稿日期:2022-11-07 接受日期:2022-12-05 出版日期:2022-12-01 发布日期:2022-12-30

Active DNA demethylation in plants: 20 years of discovery and beyond

Heng Zhang1*, Zhizhong Gong2,3* and Jian-Kang Zhu4*   

  1. 1 State Key Laboratory of Molecular Plant Genetics, Shanghai Centre for Plant Stress Biology, Centre for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China
    2 State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
    3 Institute of Life Science and Green Development, School of Life Sciences, Hebei University, Baoding 071002, China
    4 Institute of Advanced Biotechnology and School of Life Sciences, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China

    *Correspondences: Heng Zhang (hengzhang@psc.ac.cn); Zhizhong Gong (gongzz@cau.edu.cn); Jian-Kang Zhu (zhujk@sustech.edu.cn, Dr. Zhu is responsible for the distribution of the materials associated with this article)
  • Received:2022-11-07 Accepted:2022-12-05 Online:2022-12-01 Published:2022-12-30

Abstract:

Maintaining proper DNA methylation levels in the genome requires active demethylation of DNA. However, removing the methyl group from a modified cytosine is chemically difficult and therefore, the underlying mechanism of demethylation had remained unclear for many years. The discovery of the first eukaryotic DNA demethylase, Arabidopsis thaliana REPRESSOR OF SILENCING 1 (ROS1), led to elucidation of the 5-methylcytosine base excision repair mechanism of active DNA demethylation. In the 20 years since ROS1 was discovered, our understanding of this active DNA demethylation pathway, as well as its regulation and biological functions in plants, has greatly expanded. These exciting developments have laid the groundwork for further dissecting the regulatory mechanisms of active DNA demethylation, with potential applications in epigenome editing to facilitate crop breeding and gene therapy.

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