Abstract
Genomic imprinting is the phenomenon that results in mono-allelic gene expression according to their parent-of-origin. It is regulated by the epigenetic mechanism involving DNA methylation and histone modification. In flowering plants, genomic imprinting occurs in the central cell and the endosperm, and controls seed development. The establishment of imprinting was previously shown to require DNA demethylation by DNA glycosylase. However, we still lack the precise information how DNA demethylation is regulated.
To better understand the regulatory mechanism, we screened the mutants that are defective in FWA genomic imprinting using FWA-GFP reporter constructs. We successfully isolated two alleles of mutants, alarm clock for FWA imprinting 1. Effect of these mutations on FWA imprinting and possible mechanism of DNA demethylation in endosperm will be presented.
