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Epigenetic Flexibility Underlying Phenotypic Plasticity

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Progress in Botany

Part of the book series: Progress in Botany ((BOTANY,volume 74))

Abstract

Phenotypic plasticity refers to the ability of an organism to produce different phenotypes under different environmental circumstances. The mechanisms underlying phenotypic plasticity received considerable attention in recent years. It has become widely acknowledged that plastic variation in phenotypes mostly take place by altering gene expression and eventually altering ontogenetic trajectory in response to environmental changes. Epigenetic modifications provide a plausible mechanism for the putative link between environmental variation and alterations in gene expression. While much attention is being paid to heritable epigenetic changes, little attention is being paid to swift and reversible epigenetic alternations, which mediate rapid plastic responses of the organism to environmental perturbation. This mechanism is particularly important to allow organisms with no/low genetic diversity to adapt to different environments, and is likely to be a favorable evolutionary response when organisms are exposed to stress periods that last shorter than a single life span. Studying epigenetic complexes in the real environment would allow us to get greater insights into the molecular machinery that interfaces the genotype and the environment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ecology and Geobotany, School of Life Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650091, China

    Y. Geng

  2. Center for Evolutionary Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China

    L. Gao & J. Yang

Authors
  1. Y. Geng
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  2. L. Gao
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  3. J. Yang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. Yang .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Inst. Botanik, TU Darmstadt, Schnittspahnstr. 3, Darmstadt, 64287, Germany

    Ulrich Lüttge

  2. Faculty of Biologie, Experimental Ecology and, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

    Wolfram Beyschlag

  3. , School of Biological Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3TL, United Kingdom

    Dennis Francis

  4. , MS330/Department of Biochemistry, University of Nevada, Virginia Street 1664 N., Reno, 89557-0330, Nevada, USA

    John Cushman

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Geng, Y., Gao, L., Yang, J. (2013). Epigenetic Flexibility Underlying Phenotypic Plasticity. In: Lüttge, U., Beyschlag, W., Francis, D., Cushman, J. (eds) Progress in Botany. Progress in Botany, vol 74. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30967-0_5

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