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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 5, 2026

The Plant Infection Test: Spray and Wound-Mediated Inoculation with the Plant Pathogen Magnaporthe Grisea

The Plant Infection Test: Spray and Wound-Mediated Inoculation with the Plant Pathogen Magnaporthe Grisea

Published on: August 4, 2018

Spontaneous epimutations in plants.

Frank Johannes^1,2, Robert J Schmitz^2,3

¹Department of Plant Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Liesel-Beckmann-Str. 2, Freising, 85354, Germany.

The New Phytologist

|September 15, 2018

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Spontaneous epimutations, heritable changes in plant DNA methylation without altering DNA sequence, occur due to imperfect epigenome maintenance. These epimutations can impact gene expression and population diversity.

Keywords:

DNA methylation complex traits epigenetic inheritance genome evolution plant epigenetics plant evolution

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Glycan Profiling of Plant Cell Wall Polymers using Microarrays

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Published on: December 17, 2012

Area of Science:

Plant epigenetics
Molecular biology
Genomics

Background:

Heritable gains or losses of cytosine methylation (epimutations) occur stochastically in plant genomes.
These events are independent of DNA sequence changes and arise from imperfect DNA methylation maintenance.

Purpose of the Study:

To synthesize current knowledge on the molecular basis of spontaneous epimutations in plants.
To explore the functional consequences of these epimutations.
To discuss challenges and future research directions in plant epigenetics.

Main Methods:

Literature review and synthesis of existing research on spontaneous epimutations.
Analysis of molecular mechanisms underlying epimutation occurrence.
Evaluation of phenotypic and population-level impacts.

Main Results:

Spontaneous epimutations are a byproduct of epigenome maintenance in specialized plant cells.
These epimutations can lead to heritable gene expression changes.
They contribute to methylation diversity within and among plant populations and respond to environmental stressors.

Conclusions:

Spontaneous epimutations are a significant source of epigenetic variation in plants.
Understanding their molecular basis and consequences is crucial for plant epigenetics research.
Further investigation is needed to address technical and conceptual challenges.