Quantitative epigenetics: DNA sequence variation need not apply
Abstract
Two recent reports, including one by Reinders and colleagues (pp. 939–950) in the April 15, 2009, issue of Genes & Development, describe the construction of Arabidopsis recombinant inbred populations that maximize epigenetic rather than genetic variation. The distribution and behavior of phenotypic variation in these populations suggest that stable epialleles can control complex quantitative traits. However, stochastic epimutation and transposon movement in these populations present some unexpected technical hurdles to implementing quantitative epigenetic analysis.
Keywords
Footnotes
-
↵1 Correspondence.
E-MAIL ejr77{at}cornell.edu; FAX (607) 254-1325.
-
Article is online at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.1824909.
- Copyright © 2009 by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
