ReviewGenome biology and evolution2022
Gene Body Methylation in Plants: Mechanisms, Functions, and Important Implications for Understanding Evolutionary Processes.
Review in Genome biology and evolution, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 72 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
72 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
- Nonadditive gene expression and reduced homoeolog expression bias in an intraspecific hexaploid wheat hybrid.BMC plant biology · 2026Article
- Hydrogen sulfide primes drought tolerance in plants by metabolic control of DNA methylation.iScience · 2026Article
- Article
- Methionine overaccumulation reinforces heterochromatic non-CG hypermethylation and transposon silencing in Arabidopsis.Plant physiology · 2026Article
- A VIM2/4 deletion, and premature truncations of CMT2 and FBX5, drive DNA methylation changes after colonization of a novel habitat.Nature plants · 2026Article
- Synonymous Codons as Potential Contributors to Chromatin Stability and Gene Body Methylation in Plants.Journal of molecular evolution · 2026Article
- What has population genomics told us about the dynamics of selection and plant adaptation?Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Review
- Evolution of Epigenetic Regulation in Plant Reproduction.Epigenomes · 2026Review
- Transposon expansion is associated with reorganization of small RNA and DNA methylation landscapes in the morphologically minimal angiosperm Wolffia brasiliensis.The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology · 2026Article
- Integrated methylome and transcriptome analysis provides insight into DNA methylation-mediated networks in sexual dimorphism of Vernicia montana.BMC plant biology · 2026Article
- Premeiotic chromatin states orchestrate gene expression during male gametogenesis in rice.Genome biology · 2026Article
- Article
- Stem microanatomical phenomic uncovers a potential role for ZmLSM2 in regulating maize stem bending strength.Journal of integrative plant biology · 2026Article
- Epigenetics and chromatin structure regulateeLife · 2026Article
- TheProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Epigenetic modifications regulate peg elongation and underground fruiting in peanut in response to environmental cues.The plant genome · 2026Review
- Intragenic methylation repatterning is associated with alternative splicing and unique epigenetic phenotypes.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Regulatory features determine the evolutionary fate of laterally acquired genes in plants.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Epigenetics and chromatin structure regulatebioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
12 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Gene body methylation (gbM) is an epigenetic mark where gene exons are methylated in the CG context only, as opposed to CHG and CHH contexts (where H stands for A, C, or T). CG methylation is transmitted transgenerationally in plants, opening the possibility that gbM may be shaped by adaptation. This presupposes, however, that gbM has a function that affects phenotype, which has been a topic of debate in the literature. Here, we review our current knowledge of gbM in plants. We start by presenting the well-elucidated mechanisms of plant gbM establishment and maintenance. We then review more controversial topics: the evolution of gbM and the potential selective pressures that act on it. Finally, we discuss the potential functions of gbM that may affect organismal phenotypes: gene expression stabilization and upregulation, inhibition of aberrant transcription (reverse and internal), prevention of aberrant intron retention, and protection against TE insertions. To bolster the review of these topics, we include novel analyses to assess the effect of gbM on transcripts. Overall, a growing body of literature finds that gbM correlates with levels and patterns of gene expression. It is not clear, however, if this is a causal relationship. Altogether, functional work suggests that the effects of gbM, if any, must be relatively small, but there is nonetheless evidence that it is shaped by natural selection. We conclude by discussing the potential adaptive character of gbM and its implications for an updated view of the mechanisms of adaptation in plants.
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