Dear Colleagues,

Epigenetics is the phenomenon that changes the outcome of a chromosome or a particular locus without changing the DNA sequence; it is widely accepted as a bridge between genotype and phenotype. Plant epigenetics has been well known for many years in both crop and models plants—for example, the paramutation phenomenon in maize, in which one allele could cause heritable changes to the other alleles, the transcriptional and the post-transcriptional gene silencing, and the first analysis of genomic methylation at single-base resolution in Arabidopsis.

Epigenetic modifications include covalent and noncovalent modifications of DNA and associated histone proteins and the mechanisms by which these modifications affect chromatin structure. DNA methylation provides a stable and heritable component of epigenetic regulation. Covalent histone modifications include acetylation, methylation, phosphorylation, ubiquitination, and many others. Noncovalent modifications such as ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complexes, Polycomb group proteins and interacting components, and the incorporation of histone variants, such as H2A.Z, provide additional tools to introduce further variation into the chromatin template. Finally, RNA-mediated gene silencing and particularly noncoding RNAs are implicated in controlling multiple epigenetic phenomena.

Epigenetic mechanisms play a vital role during the plant life cycle in every aspect of plant growth and development, including cell differentiation, regeneration, flower initiation, reproduction, and senescence. Furthermore, plant epigenomes are susceptible to environmental cues, governing plant acclimation to extreme temperatures, and several abiotic and biotic factors.   

Therefore, in this Special Issue, articles (original research papers, perspectives, hypotheses, opinions, reviews, modeling approaches, and methods) that focus on epigenetic mechanisms and their regulation in plant growth and development as well as responses to environmental cues, both abiotic and biotic factors at all levels comprising transcriptome, proteome, metabolome and epigenome studies, plant microbiome, in model plants, crop plants, trees, aquatic plants, and native species, are most welcome.

Dr. Konstantinos E. Vlachonasios
Guest Editor

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• plant epigenetics
• histone modifications
• DNA methylation
• polycomb complex
• histone variants
• noncoding RNA
• epigenome
• plant development
• plant abiotic stress response
• plant biotic stress responses