Arabidopsis thaliana Epigenomics

Although some induced or natural epialelles have been shown to be transgenerationally inherited in plants, it is currently unknown what role epigenetic variation plays in ecological and evolutionary processes. In Arabidopsis, spontaneous epigenetic variants at the level of DNA methylation are generated at high rates even in the absence of genetic variation. However, it has been difficult to disentangle genetic and epigenetic variation in natural populations, which differ greatly in their DNA methylation patterns, and thus it is currently unknown whether epigenetic variation is subject to selection and contributes to adaptation. Here, we compare variation in phenotypic traits, genome-wide DNA methylation, and gene expression in two Arabidopsis genotypes that had undergone five generations of selection relative to their genetically identical ancestors in rapidly changing experimental landscapes.