ArticlePLoS genetics2023
Fluctuations in chromatin state at regulatory loci occur spontaneously under relaxed selection and are associated with epigenetically inherited variation in C. elegans gene expression.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 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
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Transgenerational effects of heat shock on gene regulation and fitness-related traits in natural Drosophila populations.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Epimutations: raw material for evolution?The EMBO journal · 2026Review
- Gene expression variation across genetically identical individuals predicts reproductive traits.eLife · 2025Article
- Evolutionary Consequences of Unusually Large Pericentric TE-rich Regions in the Genome of a Neotropical Fig Wasp.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Article
- RNAi epimutations conferring antifungal drug resistance are inheritable.Nature communications · 2025Article
- A genetic framework for RNAi inheritance in Caenorhabditis elegans.EMBO reports · 2025Article
- Epigenetics and individuality: from concepts to causality across timescales.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2025Review
- Interchromosomal contacts between regulatory regions trigger stable transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in Drosophila.Molecular cell · 2025Article
- Gene body methylation evolves during the sustained loss of parental care in the burying beetle.Nature communications · 2024Article
- GTP-dependent regulation of heterochromatin fluctuations at subtelomeric regions in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.Genes to cells : devoted to molecular & cellular mechanisms · 2024Article
- Evolution beyond DNA: epigenetic drivers for evolutionary change?BMC biology · 2023Article
- Cisplatin exposure alters tRNA-derived small RNAs but does not affect epimutations in C. elegans.BMC biology · 2023Article
- The third barrier to transgenerational inheritance in animals: somatic epigenetic resetting.EMBO reports · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Some epigenetic information can be transmitted between generations without changes in the underlying DNA sequence. Changes in epigenetic regulators, termed epimutations, can occur spontaneously and be propagated in populations in a manner reminiscent of DNA mutations. Small RNA-based epimutations occur in C. elegans and persist for around 3-5 generations on average. Here, we explored whether chromatin states also undergo spontaneous change and whether this could be a potential alternative mechanism for transgenerational inheritance of gene expression changes. We compared the chromatin and gene expression profiles at matched time points from three independent lineages of C. elegans propagated at minimal population size. Spontaneous changes in chromatin occurred in around 1% of regulatory regions each generation. Some were heritable epimutations and were significantly enriched for heritable changes in expression of nearby protein-coding genes. Most chromatin-based epimutations were short-lived but a subset had longer duration. Genes subject to long-lived epimutations were enriched for multiple components of xenobiotic response pathways. This points to a possible role for epimutations in adaptation to environmental stressors.
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.