Paramutation: From Maize to Mice

@article{Chandler2007ParamutationFM,
  title={Paramutation: From Maize to Mice},
  author={Vicki L. Chandler},
  journal={Cell},
  year={2007},
  volume={128},
  pages={641-645}
}
  • V. Chandler
  • Published 23 February 2007
  • Biology, Medicine
  • Cell
Paramutation is the epigenetic transfer of information from one allele of a gene to another to establish a state of gene expression that is heritable for generations. RNA has recently emerged as a prominent mediator of this remarkable phenomenon in both maize and mice. 
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Recent findings unraveled an essential role for siRNA‐dependent processes in paramutation, and the overall picture is still puzzling and many important questions remain to be answered.
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Results indicate that paramutation involves RNA-mediated heritable chromatin changes and a number of genes implicated in RNAi pathways, however, not all aspects of paramutation can be explained by known mechanisms of RNAi-mediated transcriptional silencing.
Inherited variation at the epigenetic level: paramutation from the plant to the mouse.
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References

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TLDR
Potential mechanisms underlying paramutation are discussed, several other trans-sensing phenomena are compared, and the potential roles and evolutionary implications of these intriguing homology-Sensing mechanisms are speculated on.
Paramutation in maize
TLDR
Several potential roles for paramutation include localizing recombination to low-copy sequences within the genome, establishing and maintaining chromatin domain boundaries, and providing a mechanism for plants to transmit an environmentally influenced expression state to progeny.
Maintenance of heterochromatin by RNA interference of tandem repeats
TLDR
Tandem repeats are prone to epigenetic silencing regulated by RNA interference, but siRNAs from single-copy sequences are exhausted by sequential use of downstream primers by RdRP, which could account for the formation of heterochromatin from tandem repeats.
An RNA-dependent RNA polymerase is required for paramutation in maize
TLDR
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TLDR
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TLDR
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TLDR
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TLDR
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TLDR
Once initiated following Cre–LoxP interaction, neither cis‐extension nor transvection of the methylated state required the continuous expression of Cre, as they occurred both in germinal and somatic cells and in the fraction of the offspring that had not inherited the Sycp1‐Cre transgene.
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TLDR
Interestingly, this immunity to silencing increased as the generations progressed, consistent with a heritable chromatin state being formed at the transgene in plants carrying the mop1-1 and rmr2-1 mutations that becomes more resistant tosilencing in subsequent generations.
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