Methylation of histone H3 on lysine 9 (H3K9) is a hallmark of transcriptionally inactive heterochromatin that is deregulated in pathological conditions. A new study shows that complete loss of H3K9 methylation in Caenorhabditis elegans leads to derepression of repetitive elements and formation of DNA:RNA hybrids (R loops), resulting in increased rates of repeat-specific mutation.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Wen, B., Wu, H., Shinkai, Y., Irizarry, R.A. & Feinberg, A.P. Nat. Genet. 41, 246–250 (2009).
Feinberg, A.P., Koldobskiy, M.A. & Göndör, A. Nat. Rev. Genet. 17, 284–299 (2016).
Dodge, J.E., Kang, Y.K., Beppu, H., Lei, H. & Li, E. Mol. Cell. Biol. 24, 2478–2486 (2004).
Tachibana, M. et al. Genes Dev. 16, 1779–1791 (2002).
Peters, A.H. et al. Cell 107, 323–337 (2001).
Towbin, B.D. et al. Cell 150, 934–947 (2012).
Zeller, P. et al. Nat. Genet. 48, 1385–1395 (2016).
Nestorov, P., Tardat, M. & Peters, A.H. Curr. Top. Dev. Biol. 104, 243–291 (2013).
Liu, S. et al. Genes Dev. 28, 2041–2055 (2014).
Bulut-Karslioglu, A. et al. Mol. Cell 55, 277–290 (2014).
Peng, J.C. & Karpen, G.H. PLoS Genet. 5, e1000435 (2009).
Gibert, J.M., Peronnet, F. & Schlötterer, C. PLoS Genet. 3, e30 (2007).
Robert, V.J. et al. Cell Rep. 9, 443–450 (2014).
Wagner, T. & Jung, M. Nat. Biotechnol. 30, 622–623 (2012).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The author declares no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Salcini, A. Dangerous R loops form in the absence of H3K9 methylation. Nat Genet 48, 1299–1300 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.3705
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.3705
