DNA methylation variation in Arabidopsis has a genetic basis and appears to be involved in local adaptation

We investigated DNA methylation variation in Swedish Arabidopsis thaliana accessions. We found that methylation of transposable elements is temperature sensitive and associated with genetic polymorphism in both cis and trans, whereas gene body methylation is associated with genetic polymorphism in trans. Additionally, complementary RNA-Seq data for the Arabidopsis accessions were used to correlate methylation changes with gene expression across environments. mRNA-sequencing (mRNA-Seq) of 160 Arabidopsis thaliana accessions grown at 10 C and 163 grown at 16 C. The source tissue for RNA collection was whole rosette at the 9-leaf stage.