Zhujun Yao is a senior at Duke Kunshan University, currently studying epigenetic regulators in plant stress response using Arabidopsis thaliana as a model organism. Her passion lies in using bioinformatics and computational tools to predict and support wet lab research, particularly in the realm of gene regulatory mechanisms.
Heavy metal toxicity is crucial problem worldwide. We found that the loss of SPT5L boosts lead tolerance through enhancing antioxidant production, heavy metal binding, the accumulation of GABA, and the activation of jasmonic acid pathways. We pinpointed a number of demethylated genes involved in lead regulation that not only show heightened expression in spt5l mutants but also exhibit reduced DNA methylation, including AOC2, IAR3, GAD2, VHA-D2, and AT4G08230. These genes are enriched in canonical Pb resistance pathways and are identified as significantly correlated with lead accumulation in our Weighted Gene Coexpression Network Analysis (WGCNA). Our transcription factor (TF) enrichment analysis revealed a notable presence of bZIP family transcription factors, particularly bZIP11 and bZIP48, which are characterized by diminished DNA methylation and elevated expression levels. Beyond the impact on genes encoding for messenger RNA, we propose that SPT5L may influence transposable elements and potentially engage in siRNA-driven gene silencing. This hypothesis is bolstered by Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) of differentially expressed genes, as well as chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP-ChIP) analysis, which indicate AGO4 and RNA Polymerase V association sites.
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