Abstract
Paramutation describes a directed, meiotically heritable alteration of gene regulation influenced by allelic interactions.
Keywords: gene silencing; epigenetics; transgenes; transcription; chromatin
Jay B Hollick, University of California, Berkelezz, California, USA
Published online: May 2005
DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0001199
Paramutation describes a directed, meiotically heritable alteration of gene regulation influenced by allelic interactions.
Keywords: gene silencing; epigenetics; transgenes; transcription; chromatin
References
Brink RA (1956) A genetic change associated with the R locus in maize which is directed and potentially reversible. Genetics 41: 872–890.
Brink RA (1973) Paramutation. Annual Review of Genetics 7: 129–152.
Chandler VL, Eggleston WB and Dorweiler JE (2000) Paramutation in maize. Plant Molecular Biology 43: 121–145.
Coe EH Jr (1959) A regular and continuing conversion‐type phenomenon at the B locus in maize. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 45: 828–832.
Hagemann R (1969) Somatic conversion (paramutation) at the sulfurea locus of Lycopersicon esculentum Mill III. Studies with trisomics. Canadian Journal of Genetics and Cytology 11: 346–358.
Hollick JB, Patterson GI, Coe EH Jr, Cone KC and Chandler VL (1995) Allelic interactions heritably alter the activity of a metastable maize pl allele. Genetics 141: 709–719.
Meyer P, Heidmann I and Neidenhof I (1993) Differences in DNA methylation are associated with a paramutation phenomenon in transgenic petunia. Plant Journal 4: 89–100.
Mikula BC (1995) Environmental programming of heritable epigenetic changes in paramutant r‐gene expression using temperature and light at a specific stage of early development in maize seedlings. Genetics 140: 1379–1387.
Sidorenko LV and Peterson T (2001) Transgene‐induced silencing identifies sequences involved in the establishment of paramutation of the maize p1 gene. Plant Cell 13: 319–335.
Stam M, Belele C, Dorweiler JE and Chandler VL (2002) Differential chromatin structure within a tandem array 100 kb upstream of the maize b1 locus is associated with paramutation. Genes and Development 16: 1906–918.
Waddington CH (1942) Canalization of development and the inheritance of acquired characters. Nature 150: 563–65.
Further Reading
Brink RA, Styles ED and Axtell JD (1968) Paramutation: directed genetic change. Science 159: 161–170.
Coe EH Jr (1966) The properties, origin and mechanism of conversion‐type inheritance at the b locus in maize. Genetics 53: 1035–1063.
Chandler VL, Eggleston WB and Dorweiler JE (2000) Paramutation in maize. Plant Molecular Biology 43: 121–145.
Hollick JB, Dorweiler JE and Chandler VL (1997) Paramutation and related allelic interactions. Trends in Genetics 13: 302–308.
Lisch D, Carey CC, Dorweiler JE and Chandler VL (2002) A mutation that prevents paramutation in maize also reverses Mutator transposon methylation and silencing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 99(9): 6130–6135.
Russo VEA, Martienssen RA and Riggs AD (eds) (1996) Epigenetic Mechanisms of Gene Regulation. Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
Stam M, Belele C and Ramakrishna W et al. (2002) The regulatory regions required for B′ paramutation and expression are located far upstream of the maize b1 transcribed sequences. Genetics 162: 917–930.