Chromatin remodeling in plants: Complex composition, mechanistic diversity, and biological functions.

Abstract

Chromatin remodeling complexes serve as crucial regulators of chromatin structure in eukaryotes, governing the transcription, DNA repair, and genome stability. Compared with chromatin remodelers in yeast and animals, plant chromatin remodelers exhibit both conserved and lineage-specific features, which facilitate unique adaptive responses. Cutting-edge approaches in biochemistry, epigenomics, and proteomics are revealing unprecedented insights into plant chromatin remodeling mechanisms, and genetic studies continue to demonstrate their essential roles in maintaining chromatin state homeostasis during plant growth and stress adaptation. This review synthesizes current understanding of plant chromatin remodeling complexes, with particular focuses on their specialized subunit compositions, mechanistic diversity, and integrative roles in epigenetic regulation. Furthermore, we highlight how these complexes interact with histone modifications, DNA methylation pathways, and transcription factor networks to orchestrate plant development and stress responses.