Dissecting the forces that govern epigenetic memory

The model plant Arabidopsis thaliana shows a striking natural variation in a key epigenetic marker. Researchers from the Nordborg group at the Gregor Mendel Institute (GMI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences sought to uncover what causes this variation. In a new study, the researchers demonstrate that a strong interplay between genetics and the environment may play an important role. The results were published on May 4 in PLoS Genetics.