M.F.Mette and W.Aufsatz contributed equally to this workDouble-stranded RNA induces a post-transcriptional gene silencing process, termed RNAi, in diverse organisms. It is shown here that transcriptional gene silencing accompanied by de novo methylation of a target promoter in plants can be triggered by a double-stranded RNA containing promoter sequences. Similar to the double-stranded RNA involved in RNAi, this promoter double-stranded RNA, which is synthesized in the nucleus, is partially cleaved into small RNAs~23 nucleotides in length. Both transcriptional and post-transcriptional gene silencing can thus be initiated by double-stranded RNAs that enter the same degradation pathway. The results also implicate double-stranded RNA in directing DNA methylation. Different constructs designed to produce doublestranded promoter RNA in various ways were evaluated for their ability to induce gene silencing in tobacco and Arabidopsis. RNA hairpins transcribed from inverted DNA repeats were the most effective trans-acting silencing signals. This strategy could be useful for transcriptionally downregulating genes in a variety of plants.

RNA-directed DNA methylation, one of several RNA interference-mediated pathways in the nucleus, has been documented in plants and in human cells. Despite progress in identifying the DNA methyltransferases, histone-modifying enzymes and RNA interference proteins needed for RNA-directed DNA methylation, the mechanism remains incompletely understood. We screened for mutants defective in RNA-directed DNA methylation and silencing of a transgene promoter in Arabidopsis thaliana and identified three drd complementation groups. DRD1 is a SNF2-like protein required for RNA-directed de novo methylation. We report here that DRD2 and DRD3 correspond to the second-largest subunit and largest subunit, respectively, of a fourth class of DNA-dependent RNA polymerase (polymerase IV) that is unique to plants. DRD3 is a functionally diversified homolog of NRPD1a or SDE4, identified in a separate screen for mutants defective in post-transcriptional gene silencing. The identical DNA methylation patterns observed in all three drd mutants suggest that DRD proteins cooperate to create a substrate for RNA-directed de novo methylation.

DRD1 is a SWI/SNF-like protein that cooperates with a plant-specific RNA polymerase, Pol IVb, to facilitate RNA-directed de novo methylation and silencing of homologous DNA. Screens to identify endogenous targets of this pathway in Arabidopsis revealed intergenic regions and plant genes located primarily in euchromatin. Many putative targets are near retrotransposon LTRs or other intergenic sequences that encode short RNAs, which might epigenetically regulate adjacent genes. Consistent with this, derepression of a solo LTR in drd1 and pol IVb mutants was accompanied by reduced cytosine methylation and transcriptional upregulation of neighboring sequences. The solo LTR and several other LTRs that flank reactivated targets are associated with euchromatic histone modifications but little or no H3K9 dimethylation, a hallmark of constitutive heterochromatin. By contrast, LTRs of retrotransposons that remain silent in the mutants despite reduced cytosine methylation lack euchromatic marks and have H3K9 dimethylation. We propose that DRD1 and Pol IVb establish a basal level of silencing that can potentially be reversed in euchromatin, and further reinforced in heterochromatin by other proteins that induce more stable modifications.

To analyze relationships between RNA signals, DNA methylation and chromatin modi®cations, we performed a genetic screen to recover Arabidopsis mutants defective in RNA-directed transcriptional silencing and methylation of a nopaline synthase promoter±neomycinphosphotransferase II (NOSpro± NPTII) target gene. Mutants were identi®ed by screening for recovery of kanamycin resistance in the presence of an unlinked silencing complex encoding NOSpro double-stranded RNA. One mutant, rts1 (RNA-mediated transcriptional silencing), displayed moderate recovery of NPTII gene expression and partial loss of methylation in the target NOSpro, predominantly at symmetrical C(N)Gs. The RTS1 gene was isolated by positional cloning and found to encode a putative histone deacetylase, HDA6. The more substantial decrease in methylation of symmetrical compared with asymmetrical cytosines in rts1 mutants suggests that HDA6 is dispensable for RNA-directed de novo methylation, which results in intermediate methylation of cytosines in all sequence contexts, but is necessary for reinforcing primarily C(N)G methylation induced by RNA. Because CG methylation in centromeric and rDNA repeats was not reduced in rts1 mutants, HDA6 might be specialized for the RNAdirected pathway of genome modi®cation.