DNA methylation is a conserved epigenetic modification that is important for gene regulation
and genome stability. Aberrant patterns of DNA methylation can lead to plant developmental …

A large and significant portion of eukaryotic transcriptomes consists of noncoding RNAs
(ncRNAs) that have minimal or no protein-coding capacity but are functional. Diverse …

RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) is a biological process in which non-coding RNA
molecules direct the addition of DNA methylation to specific DNA sequences. The RdDM …

Background Polyploidy or whole-genome duplication is now recognized as being present in
almost all lineages of higher plants, with multiple rounds of polyploidy occurring in most …

Meeting the increasing food and energy demands of a growing population will require the
development of ground-breaking strategies that promote sustainable plant production. Host …

Plant breeding has traditionally relied on combining the genetic diversity present within a
species to develop combinations of alleles that provide desired traits. Epigenetic diversity …

Background Unlike animals, plants can pause their life cycle as dormant seeds. In both
plants and animals, DNA methylation is involved in the regulation of gene expression and …

Grafting is a common practice for vegetative propagation and trait improvement in
horticultural plants. A general prerequisite for successful grafting and long term survival of …

Epigenetic variations are involved in the control of plant developmental processes and
participate in sha** phenotypic plasticity to the environment. Intense breeding has eroded …

Whereas micro (mi) RNAs are considered the clean, noble side of the small RNA world,
small interfering (si) RNAs are often seen as a noisy set of molecules whose barbarian …