Epigenetic Mechanisms in Plants: An Overview

Abstract

Plant epigenetics has become one of the hottest topics of research not only as a subject of basic research but also as a possible new source of benefi cial traits for plant breeding. In addition, epigenetic mechanisms are also crucial to appropriate plant reactions to stress. Given the sessile lifestyle and the late differentiation of the germ line, plants can perceive stresses during vegetative growth and also memorize them, possibly by epigenetic mechanisms. Plants use three systems to initiate and regulate epigenetic gene regulation, like other higher organisms, which include DNA methylation, histone modifi cations, and RNA interference. New concepts are being evolved to show how these epigenetic components interact and stabilize each other. The role of epigenetic mechanisms in hybrid vigor and epigenetic transgene silencing is also being explored. In this chapter, we have tried to highlight the epigenetic mechanisms that play key roles in plants.

MdMTA‐mediated m6A modification enhances drought tolerance by promoting mRNA stability and translation efficiency of genes involved in lignin deposition and oxidative stress

“…Plants have evolved multiple strategies to tolerate oxidative stress that results from ROS accumulation, including the enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidant defense systems (Mittler et al ., 2004; Gill & Tuteja, 2010; Mittler, 2017). There is also growing evidence that epigenetic regulation, such as DNA methylation and histone modification, plays a role in the transcriptional regulation of genes in response to drought stress (Filichkin et al ., 2018), although this has been demonstrated mainly in model plants (Munshi et al ., 2015; Mozgova et al ., 2019; Godwin & Farrona, 2020). However, only a few studies on the relationship between RNA methylation and drought stress tolerance have been reported in plants.…”

Assessment of DNA methylation pattern under drought stress using methylation-sensitive randomly amplified polymorphism analysis in rice

“…In transgenic plants, stress-inducible genes such as LEA, HSPs, AREB/ABFs, bZIPs contributed to enhanced stress tolerance (Ali et al, 2017). In model plants, epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation, and histone modifications, involved in stress responses are reported (Munshi et al, 2015;Mozgova et al, 2019;Godwin and Farrona, 2020); however, studies in field crops are limited (Wang et al, 2016).…”

Eragrostis curvula, a Model Species for Diplosporous Apomixis

“…However, modern definitions include long-term alterations in the transcriptional potential of a cell that are not necessarily heritable. The main mechanisms associated with epigenetics are histone modifications, DNA methylation and RNA interference [ 110 ]. The mechanism associated with the specification and development of germline in plants has not been fully elucidated so far, even though great advances were made to understand these mechanisms.…”