Hokkaido University · Agricultural and Biological Sciences
Professor Hidetaka Ito's research lab focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying transposable element (TE) activation in plants, particularly in response to environmental stresses such as heat and oxidative stress. The lab investigates how epigenetic regulation—especially DNA methylation and small RNA pathways—controls TE activity and influences host gene expression, with a central emphasis on the retrotransposon ONSEN in Arabidopsis. Their work reveals how stress-induced TE mobilization can lead to adaptive genetic variation, linking genome plasticity to environmental adaptation and evolution. The lab also explores the roles of specific DNA methyltransferases, such as CMT3 and CMT2, in regulating TE silencing and activation through distinct methylation contexts (CHG and CHH).
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Transposable elements (TEs), or transposons, play an important role in adaptation. TE insertion can affect host gene function and provides a mechanism for rapid increases in genetic diversity, particularly because many TEs respond to environmental stress. In the current study, we show that the transposition of a heat-activated retrotransposon, ONSEN, generated a mutation in an abscisic acid (ABA) responsive gene, resulting in an ABA-insensitive phenotype in Arabidopsis, suggesting stress toleran
Transposable elements (TEs) are key elements that facilitate genome evolution of the host organism. A number of studies have assessed the functions of TEs, which change gene expression in the host genome. Activation of TEs is controlled by epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation and histone modifications. Several recent studies have reported that TEs can also be activated by biotic or abiotic stress in some plants. We focused on a Ty1/copia retrotransposon, ONSEN, that is activated by h
Transposons are highly conserved in plants and have created a symbiotic relationship with the host genome. An important factor of the successful communication between transposons and host plants is epigenetic modifications including DNA methylation and the modifications of the histone tail. In plants, small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are responsible for RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) that suppresses transposon activities. Although most transposons are silent in their host plants, certain gen
RNA interference is now a well-recognized post-transcriptional mechanism for regulation of gene expression in both animals and plants. In this process, microRNAs (miRNAs) direct silencing complexes to complementary RNA sequences, leading to either degradation or repression of translation. Plants also contain another type of small RNA, small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), that play a role in gene silencing by directing cytosine methylation activities of complementary DNA sequences and thus, differ fr
DNA methylation plays crucial roles in transposon silencing and genome integrity. CHROMOMETHYLASE3 (CMT3) is a plant-specific DNA methyltransferase responsible for catalyzing DNA methylation at the CHG (H = A, T, C) context. Here, we identified a positive role of CMT3 in heat-induced activation of retrotransposon ONSEN. We found that the full transcription of ONSEN under heat stress requires CMT3. Interestingly, loss-of-function CMT3 mutation led to increased CHH methylation at ONSEN. The CHH me
Transposons were once thought to be junk repetitive DNA in the genome. However, their importance gradually became apparent as it became clear that they regulate gene expression, which is essential for organisms to survive, and that they are important factors in the driving force of evolution. Since there are multiple transposons in the genomes of all organisms, transposons have likely been activated and increased in copy number throughout their long history. This review focuses on environmental
A transposition of a heat-activated retrotransposon named ONSEN required compromise of a small RNA-mediated epigenetic regulation that includes RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) machinery after heat treatment. In the current study, we analyzed the transcriptional and transpositional activation of ONSEN to better understand the underlying molecular mechanism involved in the maintenance and/or induction of transposon activation in plant tissue culture. We found the transposition of heat-primed O
A high-density BAC filter of Triticum monococcum was screened for the presence of a centromeric retrotransposon using the integrase region as a probe. Southern hybridization to the BAC digests using total genomic DNA probes of Triticum monococcum, Triticum aestivum, and Hordeum vulgare detected differentially hybridizing restriction fragments between wheat and barley. The fragments that hybridized to genomic DNA of wheat but not to that of barley were subcloned. Fluorescence in situ hybridizatio
Transposable elements are present in a wide variety of organisms; however, our understanding of the diversity of mechanisms involved in their activation is incomplete. In this study, we analyzed the transcriptional activation of the <i>ONSEN</i> retrotransposon, which is activated by high-temperature stress in <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i>. We found that its transcription is significantly higher in the Japanese ecotype Kyoto. Considering that transposons are epigenetically regulated, DNA methylati
The RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) pathway plays an essential role in the transposon silencing mechanism; the DDR complex, consisting of DRD1, DMS3, and RDM1, is an essential component of the RdDM pathway. <i>ONSEN</i>, identified in <i>Arabidopsis</i>, is a retrotransposon activated by heat stress at 37°C; however, studies on the regulation of <i>ONSEN</i> are limited. In this study, we analyzed the regulation of <i>ONSEN</i> activity by the DDR complex in <i>Arabidopsis</i>. We elucidated
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