Schmid, Marc W.; Heichinger, Christian; Coman Schmid, Diana; Guthörl, Daniela; Gagliardini, Valeria; Bruggmann, Rémy; Aluri, Sirisha; Aquino, Catharine; Schmid, Bernhard; Turnbull, Lindsay A.; Grossniklaus, Ueli (2018). Contribution of epigenetic variation to adaptation in Arabidopsis. Nature communications, 9(1), p. 4446. Nature Publishing Group 10.1038/s41467-018-06932-5
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In plants, transgenerational inheritance of some epialleles has been demonstrated but it remains controversial whether epigenetic variation is subject to selection and contributes to adaptation. Simulating selection in a rapidly changing environment, we compare phenotypic traits and epigenetic variation between Arabidopsis thaliana populations grown for five generations under selection and their genetically nearly identical ancestors. Selected populations of two distinct genotypes show significant differences in flowering time and plant architecture, which are maintained for at least 2-3 generations in the absence of selection. While we cannot detect consistent genetic changes, we observe a reduction of epigenetic diversity and changes in the methylation state of about 50,000 cytosines, some of which are associated with phenotypic changes. Thus, we propose that epigenetic variation is subject to selection and can contribute to rapid adaptive responses, although the extent to which epigenetics plays a role in adaptation is still unclear.
Item Type: |
Journal Article (Original Article) |
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Division/Institute: |
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Bioinformatics and Computational Biology > Bioinformatics 08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Bioinformatics and Computational Biology > Computational Biology 08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Bioinformatics and Computational Biology |
UniBE Contributor: |
Bruggmann, Rémy |
ISSN: |
2041-1723 |
Publisher: |
Nature Publishing Group |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Jolanda Paganoni Zurbrügg |
Date Deposited: |
03 Jan 2020 08:47 |
Last Modified: |
04 May 2023 12:53 |
Publisher DOI: |
10.1038/s41467-018-06932-5 |
PubMed ID: |
30361538 |
Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Adaptation, Physiological,Alleles,Arabidopsis,Base Sequence,Cytosine,DNA Methylation,Epigenesis, Genetic,Flowers,Gene Expression Regulation, Plant,Genes, Plant,Genetic Variation,Phenotype,Quantitative Trait, Heritable,Selection, Genetic,Sequence Analysis, DNA,genetics,metabolism,physiology |
BORIS DOI: |
10.7892/boris.136583 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/136583 |
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