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Incoming links: Plant epigenetics
Plant epigenetics Created 2026-10-20 Updated 2026-11-05
Plant epigenetics investigates changes in gene activity associated with regulatory states such as DNA methylation and chromatin organization, including states that persist through mitosis or reproduction. Stable expression differences need not be caused by a changed DNA sequence, but independence from sequence variation must be tested.
The Karma epiallele connects this distinction to agriculture: reduced methylation of an intronic retrotransposon was associated with altered splicing and the low-yield mantled form of tissue-cultured oil palm. Somaclonal variation can thus involve a regulatory change as well as a sequence mutation.[ref]
Loss of Karma transposon methylation underlies the mantled somaclonal variant of oil palm by Meilina Ong-Abdullah and others. Abstract and molecular association with mantling
Persistence is a measurable property. Comparisons of Arabidopsis thaliana lines descended from a common ancestor found many changes at individual methylated positions but greater stability across larger methylated regions. Calling every transient response an epimutation would obscure this difference.[ref]
Spontaneous epigenetic variation in the Arabidopsis thaliana methylome by Claude Becker and others. Abstract: ten lines separated for thirty generations