Mapping the Epigenetic Basis of Complex Traits

• DOI: 10.1126/science.1248127
• Publication Date: 2014-02-07T02:58:00Z
• Authors: Sandra Cortijo; René Wardenaar; Maria Colomé-Tatché; Arthur Gilly; Mathilde Etcheverry; Karine Labadie; Erwann Caillieux; Fréderic Hospital; Jean-Marc Aury; Patrick Wincker; François Roudier; Ritsert C. Jansen; Vincent Colot; Frank Johannes
• Keywords: 580; 0301 basic medicine; 570; [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]; Quantitative Trait Loci; ANIMALS; Arabidopsis; Chromosome Mapping; DNA Methylation; Epigenesis, Genetic; 03 medical and health sciences; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; ARABIDOPSIS-THALIANA; PATTERNS; PLANTS; Selection, Genetic; DNA METHYLATION

Quantifying the impact of heritable epigenetic variation on complex traits is an emerging challenge in population genetics. Here, we analyze a population of isogenic Arabidopsis lines that segregate experimentally induced DNA methylation changes at hundreds of regions across the genome. We demonstrate that several of these differentially methylated regions (DMRs) act as bona fide epigenetic quantitative trait loci (QTL epi ), accounting for 60 to 90% of the heritability for two complex traits, flowering time and primary root length. These QTL epi are reproducible and can be subjected to artificial selection. Many of the experimentally induced DMRs are also variable in natural populations of this species and may thus provide an epigenetic basis for Darwinian evolution independently of DNA sequence changes.