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SUMMARY:Investigating a mechanism for epiallele establishment in plants. -
  Laura Taylor
DTSTART:20130613T143000Z
DTEND:20130613T145500Z
UID:TALK44307@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Megan Cooper
DESCRIPTION:Natural variation within populations may be due to differences
  at the level of DNA sequence or epigenetic differences which control geno
 me expression. Epigenetic modifications\, including DNA methylation can re
 sult in chromatin condensation and gene repression and these modifications
  may be induced by environmental stimuli and are heritable. Epialleles are
  genetically identical regions which differ at an epigenetic level between
  individuals. Epialleles can influence plant phenotype and so may affect t
 he fitness of plants in wild populations as well as influence crop breedin
 g programmes.\n    Although the mechanism for maintaining DNA methylation 
 at epialleles has been described\, the requirements for the establishment 
 of new epialleles are less well understood. We identified and characterize
 d a new Arabidopsis epiallele\, designated as MRD1. MRD1 is defined by a l
 ong non-coding RNA and when methylated causes transcriptional silencing of
  an associated gene. Using MRD1 as a model for a genetic analysis of epial
 lele establishment\, we targeted DNA methylation to this region via small 
 RNA molecules which are produced by endogenous RNA silencing pathways.\n  
  Based on this genetic analysis\, we propose a three phase model for the e
 stablishment of heritable DNA methylation.
LOCATION:Biffen Lecture Theater\, Department of Genetics
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