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Transgenerational Epigenetics in Plants
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Transgenerational Epigenetics in Plants

A special issue of Genes (ISSN 2073-4425). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Genetics and Genomics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (19 October 2018) | Viewed by 2789

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Tzung Fu Hsieh

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Plants for Human Health Institute, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, North Carolina State University, Kannapolis, NC 28081, USA
Interests: gene imprinting; DNA methylation; DNA demethylateion; endosperm development; seed development; plant reproduction

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Epigenetics is commonly referred to as change in gene activity that is independent of DNA sequence. DNA methylation and posttranslational modification of histones affect accessibility of the DNA to transcription activators and are two well-known epigenetic mechanisms. Although phenotypic variation is primarily driven by genetic diversity, epigenetics is increasingly recognized as an important regulator in phenotypic variation. Epigenetic change caused by developmental cues or environmental stimuli represents transcriptional states associated with developmental transition or environmental stress. Such changes often need to be erased or reset during reproduction. By contrast, transgenerational epigenetics are the epigenetic changes that can be stably transmitted through meiosis and inherited in the following generation. Naturally-occurring epialleles are one such inheritance that involves DNA methylation. In addition, wide spread change in DNA methylation can be induced by various biotic and abiotic stresses, resulting in activation and mobilization of transposons that can be inherited in subsequent generation in certain cases. Furthermore, experimental induction of heritable DNA methylation variations revealed phenotypic plasticity masked by DNA methylation, highlighting the importance of DNA methylation in regulating transgenerational epigenetics in plants. This Special Issue aims to explore recent advances in the field of plant transgenerational epigenetics and to solicit breakthrough research reports from experts in the field.

Prof. Tzung Fu Hsieh
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Genes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Epigenetics
  • epiRIL
  • DNA Methylation
  • DNA Demethylation
  • Histone Modifications
  • RNA-directed DNA Methylation
  • siRNAs
  • Epigenetic Reprogramming

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

11 pages, 1787 KiB  
Article
DNA Methylation Diversification at the Integrated Organellar DNA-Like Sequence
by Takanori Yoshida, Yoshiaki Tarutani, Tetsuji Kakutani and Akira Kawabe
Genes 2018, 9(12), 602; https://doi.org/10.3390/genes9120602 - 03 Dec 2018
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2623
Abstract
Plants have a lot of diversity in epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation in their natural populations or cultivars. Although many studies observing the epigenetic diversity within and among species have been reported, the mechanisms how these variations are generated are still not [...] Read more.
Plants have a lot of diversity in epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation in their natural populations or cultivars. Although many studies observing the epigenetic diversity within and among species have been reported, the mechanisms how these variations are generated are still not clear. In addition to the de novo spontaneous epi-mutation, the intra- and inter-specific crossing can also cause a change of epigenetic modifications in their progenies. Here we report an example of diversification of DNA methylation by crossing and succeeding selfing. We traced the inheritance pattern of epigenetic modification during the crossing experiment between two natural strains Columbia (Col), and Landsberg electa (Ler) in model plant Arabidopsis thaliana to observe the inheritance of DNA methylation in two organellar DNA-like sequence regions in the nuclear genome. Because organellar DNA integration to the nuclear genome is common in flowering plants and these sequences are occasionally methylated, such DNA could be the novel source of plant genome evolution. The amplicon sequencing, using bisulfite-converted DNA and a next-generation auto-sequencer, was able to efficiently track the heredity of DNA methylation in F1 and F2 populations. One region showed hypomethylation in the F1 population and succeeding elevation of DNA methylation with large variance in the F2 population. The methylation level of Col and Ler alleles in F2 heterozygotes showed a significant positive correlation, implying the trans-chromosomal effect on DNA methylation. The results may suggest the possible mechanism causing the natural epigenetic diversity within plant populations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Transgenerational Epigenetics in Plants)
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