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Epigenetic Memory and Control in Plants pp 41–56Cite as

Epigenetic Regulation of Genome Stability in Plants in Response to Stress

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Part of the book series: Signaling and Communication in Plants ((SIGCOMM,volume 18))

Abstract

Stress and acclimation responses in plants are mediated by genome-wide changes in gene expression, cellular proteome, and metabolome. In the past years, a significant progress has been made in understanding how epigenetic and smRNA pathways control and orchestrate these changes. Epigenetic marks modify the properties of chromatin and change gene transcriptional states on a scale of the entire genome to a single specific gene. These marks allow for the greater plasticity and adaptability of plant genomes to changing environmental conditions. As DNA methylation is well recognized as an epigenetic mechanism that largely controls stress-induced changes in the plant transcriptome, the crucial role of changes in chromatin structure and levels of small RNAs (smRNAs) becomes more apparent. In this chapter, we summarize and discuss recent advances in understanding dynamic changes that occur in plant chromatin and smRNA populations during exposure to stress. Where possible, we provide experimental evidence supporting direct contributions of these changes to stress acclimation and plant survival.

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Acknowledgment

We thank Valentina Titova for proofreading the manuscript. Research in IK lab is funded by NSERC Discovery, NSERC Strategic, and Alberta Agricultural Research Institute. We declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Plant Biology, University of Zürich, Zollikerstrasse 107, 8008, Zürich, Switzerland

    Alex Boyko

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, T1K 3M4, Canada

    Igor Kovalchuk

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  1. Alex Boyko
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  2. Igor Kovalchuk
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Correspondence to Igor Kovalchuk .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Agriculture and Biotech. of Drylands, Jacob Blaustein Inst. for Desert Res., French Associates Institute for, Sede Boqer Campus, 84990, Israel

    Gideon Grafi

  2. Britannia Building, Department of Molecular Biology, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Nir Ohad

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Boyko, A., Kovalchuk, I. (2013). Epigenetic Regulation of Genome Stability in Plants in Response to Stress. In: Grafi, G., Ohad, N. (eds) Epigenetic Memory and Control in Plants. Signaling and Communication in Plants, vol 18. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35227-0_3

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