Moschou, Panagiotis Nikolaou
- Department of Plant Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH)
- University of Crete
Abstract
Crop adaptation to climate change is in a part attributed to epigenetic mechanisms which are related to response to abiotic and biotic stresses. Although recent studies increased our knowledge on the nature of these mechanisms, epigenetics remains under-investigated and still poorly understood in many, especially non-model, plants, Epigenetic modifications are traditionally divided into two main groups, DNA methylation and histone modifications that lead to chromatin remodeling and the regulation of genome functioning. In this review, we outline the most recent and interesting findings on crop epigenetic responses to the environmental cues that are most relevant to climate change. In addition, we discuss a speculative point of view, in which we try to decipher the "epigenetic alphabet" that underlies crop adaptation mechanisms to climate change. The understanding of these mechanisms will pave the way to new strategies to design and implement the next generation of cultivars with a broad range of tolerance/resistance to stresses as well as balanced agronomic traits, with a limited loss of (epi)genetic variability.
Keywords
abiotic stresses; adaptation; climate change; epigenetics; environmental stresses; epigenetic code
Published in
Frontiers in Genetics
2022, volume: 13, article number: 818727
Publisher: FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
SLU Authors
Global goals (SDG)
UKÄ Subject classification
Agricultural Science
Other Agricultural Sciences not elsewhere specified
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2022.818727
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/116516