Isolation of genes involved in epigenetic regulation and the inheritance of an aneuploid syndrome in maize

Heritable or semi-heritable changes in phenotype or gene expression patterns that are not induced by changes in DNA sequence are epigenetic. Paramutation and transposable elements inactivation, two of the first examples of epigenetics, were discovered in maize. Yet very little is known regarding the genetic and molecular determinants of epigenetics. Research will focus on defining novel cases of epigenetic inheritance and on characterization of genes coding for putative epigenetic regulators.;Previous work discovered a phenotypic syndrome that can be induced by a specific aneuploid condition in maize. The aneuploid induced phenotype can be genetically separated from the aneuploid condition. The induction and inheritance of this syndrome will be studied to gain an understanding of the genetic factors that can induce and maintain epigenetic changes in gene expression.;Large EST sequencing projects in maize have facilitated the identification of putative epigenetic regulators. Changes in DNA methylation patterns have been associated with numerous examples of epigenetic inheritance in plants. DNA cytosine methyltransferases are responsible for the establishment and maintenance of DNA methylation patterns; while methyl binding domain proteins are involved in transducing DNA methylation into a change in gene expression state. Genes coding for DNA methyltransferases or methyl binding domain proteins will be isolated and characterized. Homologs of Polycomb group proteins, which are involved in the epigenetic regulation of gene expression in many organisms, will also be identified and characterized. The characterization of several groups of putative epigenetic regulators will facilitate a reverse genetic approach to the study of epigenetic inheritance in maize.