The role of plant epigenetics in biotic interactions.

Contents Summary 731 I. Biotic interactions in the context of genetic, epigenetic and environmental diversity 731 II. Biotic interactions affect epigenetic configuration 732 III. Plant epigenetic configuration influences biotic interactions 733 IV. Epigenetic memory in the context of biotic interactions 734 V. Conclusions and future research 735 Acknowledgements 735 Author contributions 735 References 735 SUMMARY: Plants are hubs of a wide range of biotic interactions with mutualist and antagonist animals, microbes and neighboring plants. Because the quality and intensity of those relationships can change over time, a fast and reversible response to stress is required. Here, we review recent studies on the role of epigenetic factors such as DNA methylation and histone modifications in modulating plant biotic interactions, and discuss the state of knowledge regarding their potential role in memory and priming. Moreover, we provide an overview of strategies to investigate the contribution of epigenetics to environmentally induced phenotypic changes in an ecological context, highlighting possible transitions from whole-genome high-resolution analyses in plant model organisms to informative reduced representation analyses in genomically less accessible species.