Beyond the gene: epigenetic and cis-regulatory targets offer new breeding potential for the future
Crisp PA, Bhatnagar-Mathur P, Hundleby P, Godwin ID, Waterhouse PM and Hickey LT
Current Opinion in Biotechnology
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2021.07.008
Highlights
- Factors beyond the coding sequence of genes contribute to trait variation in crops.
- Non-genic factors include epigenetic modifications and cis-regulatory elements.
- DNA methylation variation is a key target for integrating epigenomics into breeding.
- Proximal and distal cis-regulatory elements control quantitative variation.
- We need improved tools to discover and harness non-genic variation.
