Exploiting cryptic epigenetic variation for crop improvement

The Arabidopsis 1001 epigenomes are comprehensive representations of the epigenomic diversity in A. thaliana accessions, demonstrating how epialleles can alter gene expression. However, the molecular basis of this methylation variation is highly complex, and distinguishing epigenetic variants from abundant DNA sequence variation is challenging. Much of the phenotypic variation may be hidden in epigenetically silenced genes. Researchers are exploring ways to access this variation through various stimuli to activate epigenetically silenced genes. Epimutagenesis is a promising tool to enhance available variation for crop improvement. My previous work has shown genotype-specific developmental responses to chemical activation of epigenetically silenced genes, which enables the characterization of new gene functions and the exploitation of within-species epigenetic variation for crop improvement.

Fig 1: Schematic representation showing epimutagenesis populations in Arabidopsis ecotypes