Annual Plant Reviews, Volume 19, Plant Epigenetics / Annual Plant Reviews (PDF)

With the discovery of RNAi pathways and the histone code,
epigenetics has become a popular and fast evolving research topic.
Plant science has made a number of elementary contributions to this
field, and the common elements of epigenetic systems have linked
research groups interested in plant, fungal and animal systems.

This volume provides a comprehensive overview epigenetic
mechanisms and biological processes in plants, illustrating the
wider relevance of this research to work in other plant science
areas and on non-plant systems. It discusses recent advances in our
knowledge of basic mechanisms and molecular components that control
transcriptional and post-transcriptional silencing, an
understanding of which is essential for plant researchers who use
transgenic lines for stable expression of a recombinant construct
or for targeted inactivation of an endogenous gene. These aspects
should be of special interest to the agricultural industry.

The volume illustrates the relevance of epigenetic control
systems to gene regulation and plant development, examining
paramutation, genomic imprinting and microRNA-based gene regulation
mechanisms. Finally, it demonstrates the significance of epigenetic
systems to viral defence and genome organisation.

The volume is directed at researchers and professionals in plant
molecular genetics, plant biochemistry and plant developmental
biology.