DNA methylation dynamics in reponse to stress: An insight into stress-induced and stably inherited DNA methylation variants in asexual and sexual plants

Summary:

With global change occurring at an increasing rate, understanding the molecular mechanisms that allow organisms to rapidly acclimatize and adapt to their environment is a leading topic in the field of ecology and evolutionary biology. Epigenetics is one such mechanism and include processes such DNA methylation, which is the addition of a methyl group (-CH3) to a DNA nucleotide. This allows for organisms to change the expression of their genes without changing their underlying DNA code. Epigenetic processes may be particularly important in plants, as they are not able to move away when their environment becomes stressful. Thus, the aim of this thesis is to characterize how DNA methylation patterns respond to stresses and is inherited across generations in a large range of plant. A particular focus is given to the reproduction mode of plants (ex asexual or sexual reproduction), as it is believed that this may influence how dynamics DNA methylation is in response to stresses.