[Seminars] PSB event reminder
contact at psb.vib-ugent.be
contact at psb.vib-ugent.be
Tue Jan 31 10:10:01 CET 2012
Calendar Name: seminars
Scheduled for: Tuesday, January 31 2012, 12:00 - 13:30
Event text: Dr Jose Gutierrez-Marcos
School of Life Sciences
University of Warwick
Warwick
UK
Details: Epigenetic basis of adaptation to stress in plants
ABSTRACT
Plants are sessile organisms that are known for their
adaptive plasticity to the changing environment. In
addition to directly influencing on plant growth,
environmental changes not only influence gene expression
patterns but also affect the stability of the genome.
Both of these responses are mediated by epigenetic
mechanisms which can also cause phenotypic changes that
can be transmitted and remain stable for several
generations. In this respect, the formation of
environmental epialleles and their maintenance
represents an important, albeit unexplored, source of
variation and adaptive power that can be manipulated to
improve the way plants adapt to a changing environment.
However, the precise mechanisms regulating this
epigenetic phenomenon remain unknown. We have
investigated the impact that abiotic environmental
stress has on the formation of new allelic variants by
the genome-wide epigenetic profiling. Our recent work
provides evidence of small RNAs directly involved in
directing DNA methylation to discrete loci of the maize
genome. I will discuss the possible mechanism(s) by
which environmental change is able to destabilize the
plant epigenome and contribute to the so-called
epigenetic memory and adaptation to stress in plants.
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