FLICKR, DANIEL OCAMPO
Just last week, we covered findings that show plants can transfer acquired defenses against pests and pathogens on to their offspring—a finding that may have implications in crop pest management. Now, a new study published in Plant Signaling and Behavior describes how three molecular mechanisms interact to create an inheritable signal.
“To connect the dots, we recently tested a group of Arabidopsis mutants that are affected by all three of the mechanisms suggested in prior research,” said Jurriaan Ton of the University of Sheffield, including small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), DNA methylation, and histone modification.
The current findings suggest that all three signals work together, but that only one factor is likely passed to offspring—methylation of the CHG motif, a common DNA sequence in the genome. ...
