Transgenerational methylation variation induced by maternal vernalization in A. thaliana

GABRIELA A AUGE; MARIANO ALVAREZ; KATHLEEN DONOHUE

Portland, Oregon EEUU

Congreso; Evolution 2017; 2017

American Society of Naturalists, Society for the Study of Evolution, Society of Systematic Biologists

DNA methylation variation has been hypothesized to influence adaptation and evolutionary trajectories, but it remains unclear whether environmentally induced epigenetic variation is transgenerationally stable, and whether this stability is independent of genetic variation. We use a single genotype of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana to assess the persistence of methylation variation induced by a non-stressful pre-reproductive cold cue, vernalization, through meiosis. We find evidence of induced, transgenerationally stable methylation variation in offspring seeds, primarily in transposable elements. However, we also show that many offspring methylation phenotypes are not predictable from parental methylation status, suggesting inheritance through a cryptic, secondary mechanism.