Seminar ”Spontaneous epimutations in plants”, by Prof. Frank Johannes

Speaker: Prof. Frank Johannes, Technical University of Munich

Title: "Spontaneous epimutations in plants"

Abstract:
Heritable gains or losses of cytosine methylation can arise stochastically in plant genomes independently of DNA sequence changes. These so-called ‘spontaneous epimutations’ appear to be a byproduct of imperfect DNA methylation maintenance across somatic cell divisions. There is continued interest in the plant epigenetics community in trying to understand the broader implications of these stochastic events, as some have been shown to induce heritable gene expression changes, shape patterns of methylation diversity within and among plant populations, and appear to be responsive to multi-generational environmental stressors. Here I highlight our ongoing efforts to characterize the causes, consequences and temporal dynamics of spontaneous epimutations in plant genomes.