AUTHOR=Demidov Dmitri , Heckmann Stefan , Weiss Oda , Rutten Twan , Dvořák Tomaštíková Eva , Kuhlmann Markus , Scholl Patrick , Municio Celia Maria , Lermontova Inna , Houben Andreas 

TITLE=Deregulated Phosphorylation of CENH3 at Ser65 Affects the Development of Floral Meristems in Arabidopsis thaliana

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2019.00928

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2019.00928

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Several histone variants are posttranslationally phosphorylated. Little is known about phosphorylation of the centromere-specific histone 3 (CENH3) variant in plants. We show that CENH3 of <italic>Arabidopsis thaliana</italic> is phosphorylated <italic>in vitro</italic> by Aurora3, predominantly at serine 65. Interaction of Aurora3 and CENH3 was found by immunoprecipitation (IP) in <italic>A. thaliana</italic> and by bimolecular fluorescence complementation. Western blotting with an anti-CENH3 pS65 antibody showed that CENH3 pS65 is more abundant in flower buds than elsewhere in the plant. Substitution of serine 65 by either alanine or aspartic acid resulted in a range of phenotypic abnormalities, especially in reproductive tissues. We conclude that Aurora3 phosphorylates CENH3 at S65 and that this post-translational modification is required for the proper development of the floral meristem.</p>