植物群体表观遗传学研究进展

Advances in population epigenetics of plant

植物表观遗传多样性是对生物多样性的遗传多样性层面的补充,也是植物表型多样性的重要来源,研究表观遗传多样性的群体表观遗传学应运而生。在植物自然种群的研究中,群体表观遗传学弥补了群体遗传学对不符合孟德尔遗传定律的表型遗传的认识,是对现代综合进化论的重要补充。分子生物学技术的发展,为研究表观遗传变异提供了甲基化敏感的扩增片段长度多样(MS-AFLP)、结合二代测序的亚硫酸氢钠测序法等有力的技术手段。在生态和进化领域,自然种群中表观遗传变异与遗传变异、表型可塑性、生境分化、物种形成的关系成为研究的热点。表观遗传机制在生态系统和生物进化中的作用也逐渐得到揭示,本综述回顾近年来植物群体表观遗传学的实验研究和理论观点,展望了植物群体表观遗传学在研究方法和研究主题上的前景。

Epigenetic variation within species can complement genetic variation as a significant source of phenotypic and functional diversity in natural plant populations. Population epigenetics has been developed for the study of epigenetics in wild species. As a main method in population epigenetics, methylationsensitive amplification polymorphism （MSAFLP or MSAP） analysis has been often used to assess methylcytosine changes though it has many limitations. Reduced representation bisulphite sequencing （RRBS） approach based on nextgeneration sequencing could be a powerful tool in ecological studies. Epigenetics has been applied in the fields of ecology and evolution to explore topics including the relationship between epigenetic variation and genetic variation, epigenetic mechanism of phenotypic plasticity, epigenetic differences in heterogeneous habitats, and epigenetics in polyploidy and speciation events. The important role of epigenetic processes in ecology and evolution has been demonstrated. In this paper we present an overview of the latest research progress of epigenetics in ecology and evolution, and describe the future studies of population epigenetics in plants.