Posts by cinchws
Changing the Game in Epigenetics: Sally Mackenzie
THE SYMBIOTIC PODCAST, PENN STATE HUCK INSTITUTES OF THE LIFE SCIENCES Sally Mackenzie is one of the world’s foremost experts on epigenetics, the study of how environmental changes affect the way genes are expressed. In this conversation we cover an epigenetic techniques she’s patented, the biotech company she founded, and the potential role that epigenetics…
Read MoreGeneticists Crack Epigenetic Code
AGRI-VIEW The model plant Arabidopsis is frequently used by researchers because it’s relatively easy to genetically manipulate. Researchers at Pennsylvania State University used Arabidopsis to study how plants reprogram their genetic material to survive stresses. Read the full article here.
Read MoreSensory plastid-associated PsbP DOMAIN-CONTAINING PROTEIN 3 triggers plant growth- and defense-related epigenetic responses
THE PLANT JOURNAL Sensory plastids are important in plant responses to environmental changes. Previous studies show that MutS HOMOLOG 1 (MSH1) perturbation in sensory plastids induces heritable epigenetic phenotype adjustment. Previously, the PsbP homolog DOMAIN-CONTAINING PROTEIN 3 (PPD3), a protein of unknown function, was postulated to be an interactor with MSH1. This study investigates the relationship of PPD3 with…
Read MoreMethylome decoding of RdDM-mediated reprogramming effects in the Arabidopsis MSH1 system
GENOME BIOLOGY Plants undergo programmed chromatin changes in response to environment, influencing heritable phenotypic plasticity. The RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) pathway is an essential component of this reprogramming process. The relationship of epigenomic changes to gene networks on a genome-wide basis has been elusive, particularly for intragenic DNA methylation repatterning. Read the full journal article…
Read MoreSegregation of an MSH1 RNAi transgene produces heritable non-genetic memory in association with methylome reprogramming
NATURE COMMUNCIATIONS MSH1 is a plant-specific protein. RNAi suppression of MSH1 results in phenotype variability for developmental and stress response pathways. Segregation of the RNAi transgene produces non-genetic msh1 ‘memory’ with multi-generational inheritance. First-generation memory versus non-memory comparison, and six-generation inheritance studies, identifies gene-associated, heritable methylation repatterning. Genome-wide methylome analysis integrated with RNAseq and network-based enrichment studies identifies altered…
Read MoreArabidopsis MSH1 mutation alters the epigenome and produces heritable changes in plant growth
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS Plant phenotypes respond to environmental change, an adaptive capacity that is at least partly transgenerational. However, epigenetic components of this interplay are difficult to measure. Depletion of the nuclear-encoded protein MSH1 causes dramatic and heritable changes in plant development, and here we show that crossing these altered plants with isogenic wild type produces…
Read MoreMutS HOMOLOG1-Derived Epigenetic Breeding Potential in Tomato
PLANT PHYSIOLOGY Evidence is compelling in support of a naturally occurring epigenetic influence on phenotype expression in land plants, although discerning the epigenetic contribution is difficult. Agriculturally important attributes like heterosis, inbreeding depression, phenotypic plasticity, and environmental stress response are thought to have significant epigenetic components, but unequivocal demonstration of this is often infeasible. Here,…
Read MoreMSH1-induced heritable enhanced growth vigor through grafting is associated with the RdDM pathway in plants
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS Plants transmit signals long distances, as evidenced in grafting experiments that create distinct rootstock-scion junctions. Noncoding small RNA is a signaling molecule that is graft transmissible, participating in RNA-directed DNA methylation; but the meiotic transmissibility of graft-mediated epigenetic changes remains unclear. Here, we exploit the MSH1 system in Arabidopsis and tomato to introduce…
Read MoreAn Epigenetic Breeding System in Soybean for Increased Yield and Stability
PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL Epigenetic variation has been associated with a wide range of adaptive phenotypes in plants, but there exist few direct means for exploiting this variation. RNAi suppression of the plant-specific gene, MutS HOMOLOG1 (MSH1), in multiple plant species produces a range of developmental changes accompanied by modulation of defence, phytohormone and abiotic stress…
Read MoreOn the Thermodynamics of DNA Methylation Process
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS DNA methylation is an epigenetic mechanism that plays important roles in various biological processes including transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation, genomic imprinting, aging, and stress response to environmental changes and disease. Consistent with thermodynamic principles acting within living systems and the application of maximum entropy principle, we propose a theoretical framework to understand and…
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