@article{Li02012020,
author = {Li, Chenxin and Xu, Hengping and Fu, Fang-Fang and Russell, Scott D and Sundaresan, Venkatesan and Gent, Jonathan Isaiah}, 
title = {Genome-wide redistribution of 24-nt siRNAs in rice gametes},
year = {2020}, 
doi = {10.1101/gr.253674.119}, 
elocation-id = {gr.253674.119}, 
abstract ={Gametes constitute a critical stage of the plant life cycle during which the genome undergoes reprogramming in preparation for embryogenesis. Here we examined genome-wide distributions of small RNAs in the sperm and egg cells of rice. We found that 24-nt siRNAs, which are a hallmark of RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) in plants, were depleted from heterochromatin boundaries in both gametes relative to vegetative tissues, reminiscent of siRNA patterns in DDM1-type nucleosome remodeler mutants. In sperm cells, 24-nt siRNAs were spread across heterochromatic regions, while in egg cells, 24-nt siRNAs were concentrated at a smaller number of heterochromatic loci throughout the genome, especially at loci which also produced siRNAs in other tissues. In both gametes, patterns of CHH methylation, typically a strong indicator of RdDM, were similar to vegetative tissues, although lower in magnitude. These findings indicate that the small RNA transcriptome undergoes large-scale redistribution in both male and female gametes, which is not correlated with recruitment of DNA methyltransferases in gametes and suggestive of unexplored regulatory activities of gamete small RNAs.}, 
URL = {http://genome.cshlp.org/content/early/2020/01/02/gr.253674.119.abstract}, 
eprint = {http://genome.cshlp.org/content/early/2020/01/02/gr.253674.119.full.pdf+html}, 
journal = {Genome Research} 
}