Abstract
Somatic cells can undergo mitotically transmitted changes in state that do not result from permanent changes in genetic constitution. These alterations in cellular heredity are called epigenetic changes to emphasize their role in the somatic transmission of developmental (i.e. epigenetic) information and to distinguish them from rare, spontaneous mutations (Nanney 1958). Epigenetic changes are defined operationally as directed cell-heritable, phenotypic changes that are potentially reversible and not transmitted meiotically (Meins 1980& Lutz 1980). It is likely that the earlier distinction made between mitotic and meiotic transmission, particularly in plants, is artificial. Forms of heritable variation such as paramutation (Brink 1973), phases of transposable-element activity (Fedoroff et al. 1989), and genomic imprinting (Surani 1991) have the properties typical of epigenetic changes, but are inherited both mitotically and meiotically. More recently, Holliday (1987) coined the term epimutation to denote heritable variation resulting from modifications of DNA due to methylation of cytosines. Jorgensen (1993) has suggested applying this term more broadly to meiotically transmitted states with a developmental basis.
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Meins, F., Kunz, C. (1994). Silencing of Chitinase Expression in Transgenic Plants: An Autoregulatory Model. In: Paszkowski, J. (eds) Homologous Recombination and Gene Silencing in Plants. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1094-5_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1094-5_14
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