ReviewTrends in genetics : TIG2021
Epimutations Define a Fast-Ticking Molecular Clock in Plants.
Review in Trends in genetics : TIG, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed.
- Mapping genetic modifiers of epimutation rates identifies VIM2/4 as dosage-sensitive negative regulators of CG methylation maintenance.Nature plants · 2026Article
- Esca disease triggers local transcriptomic response and DNA methylation changes in grapevine.Journal of experimental botany · 2026Article
- Integrated methylome and transcriptome analysis provides insight into DNA methylation-mediated networks in sexual dimorphism of Vernicia montana.BMC plant biology · 2026Article
- Epimutations: raw material for evolution?The EMBO journal · 2026Review
- DNA Methylation Reflects Cis-Genetic Differentiation Across the European Crow Hybrid Zone.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Somatic Evolution of Stem Cell Mutations in Long-Lived Plants.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Epigenetics and individuality: from concepts to causality across timescales.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2025Review
- Methylomes Reveal Recent Evolutionary Changes in Populations of Two Plant Species.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Assessing Rapid Adaptation Through Epigenetic Inheritance: A New Experimental Approach.Plant, cell & environment · 2025Article
- Epigenetic variation in light of population genetic practice.Nature communications · 2025Review
- Article
- Epigenomic and transcriptomic persistence of heat stress memory in strawberry (Fragaria vesca).BMC plant biology · 2024Article
- Genome-wide methylome stability and parental effects in the worldwide distributed Lombardy poplar.BMC biology · 2024Article
- On the causes of gene-body methylation variation in Arabidopsis thaliana.PLoS genetics · 2023Article
- An evolutionary epigenetic clock in plants.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Article
- Development of DNA methylation-based epigenetic age predictors in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda).Molecular ecology resources · 2023Article
- Gene Body Methylation in Plants: Mechanisms, Functions, and Important Implications for Understanding Evolutionary Processes.Genome biology and evolution · 2022Review
- Review
- Role of environmentally induced epigenetic transgenerational inheritance in evolutionary biology: Unified Evolution Theory.Environmental epigenetics · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Stochastic gains and losses of DNA methylation at CG dinucleotides are a frequent occurrence in plants. These spontaneous 'epimutations' occur at a rate that is 100 000 times higher than the genetic mutation rate, are effectively neutral at the genome-wide scale, and are stably inherited across mitotic and meiotic cell divisions. Mathematical models have been extraordinarily successful at describing how epimutations accumulate in plant genomes over time, making this process one of the most predictable epigenetic phenomena to date. Here, we propose that their high rate and effective neutrality make epimutations a powerful new molecular clock for timing evolutionary events of the recent past and for age dating of long-lived perennials such as trees.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.