Plant physiologyMay 28, 2017

ATX3, ATX4, and ATX5 Genes Produce Enzymes That Modify DNA and Are Essential for Plant Growth

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Updated Apr 6, 2026

Abstract

Disruption of ATX3, ATX4, and ATX5 resulted in a marked reduction in H3K4me2 and H3K4me3 levels genome-wide.

ATX3, ATX4, and ATX5 have similar structures and expression patterns.
These ATX proteins are redundantly required for both vegetative and reproductive development in Arabidopsis.
Concurrent disruption of ATX3, ATX4, and ATX5 led to thousands of genes being expressed ectopically.
Triple mutants showed exaggerated phenotypes when combined with other mutants but not with specific controls.
The genomic features associated with the targeted regions differ from those controlled by other ATX proteins.

Simplified

Methylation of Lys residues in the tail of the H3 histone is a key regulator of chromatin state and gene expression, conferred by a large family of enzymes containing an evolutionarily conserved SET domain. One of the main types of SET domain proteins are those controlling H3K4 di- and trimethylation. The genome of Arabidopsis () encodes 12 such proteins, including five ARABIDOPSIS TRITHORAX (ATX) proteins and seven ATX-Related proteins. Here, we examined three until-now-unexplored ATX proteins, ATX3, ATX4, and ATX5. We found that they exhibit similar domain structures and expression patterns and are redundantly required for vegetative and reproductive development. Concurrent disruption of the,, andgenes caused marked reduction in H3K4me2 and H3K4me3 levels genome-wide and resulted in thousands of genes expressed ectopically. Furthermore,//triple mutants resulted in exaggerated phenotypes when combined with themutant but not withTogether, we conclude that,, andare redundantly required for H3K4 di- and trimethylation at thousands of sites located across the genome, and genomic features associated with targeted regions are different from the/-controlled sites in Arabidopsis. Arabidopsis thaliana ATX3ATX4ATX5atx3atx4atx5atx2atx1ATX3ATX4ATX5ATXR3SDG2

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ATX3, ATX4, and ATX5 Genes Produce Enzymes That Modify DNA and Are Essential for Plant Growth

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