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

Here we investigate DNA methylation variation in Swedish Arabidopsis thaliana accessions, demonstrating that methylation of transposable elements is temperature sensitive and associated with genetic polymorphism in both cis and trans, whereas gene body methylation is highly correlated with climate of origin and associated with genetic polymorphism in trans that shows evidence of local adaptation. While genome-wide surveys of naturally occurring DNA methylation have been published previously, the degree of genetic control revealed here is unprecedented. Furthermore, the observation that DNA methylation is associated with climate, and is apparently adaptively important, is completely novel. Bisulfite sequencing of 152 Swedish Arabidobsis accessions grown at 10 C and 121 grown at 16 C