Publications by authors named "Daniela Ramos-Cruz"

Article Synopsis
  • - This study examined 207 lines of Thlaspi arvense, an annual weed, focusing on the genetic and environmental influences on DNA methylation across Europe to understand natural epigenetic variation.
  • - Researchers found significant population structure in DNA methylation, with levels being influenced by both genetic variants and the climate where the plants originated, particularly showing lower methylation in colder and more variable climates.
  • - The findings highlight that while genetic differences are the main predictors of differentially methylated regions, the environmental impact grows stronger in specific DNA contexts, suggesting implications for breeding and agricultural practices related to T. arvense as a biofuel and cover crop.
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Thlaspi arvense (field pennycress) is being domesticated as a winter annual oilseed crop capable of improving ecosystems and intensifying agricultural productivity without increasing land use. It is a selfing diploid with a short life cycle and is amenable to genetic manipulations, making it an accessible field-based model species for genetics and epigenetics. The availability of a high-quality reference genome is vital for understanding pennycress physiology and for clarifying its evolutionary history within the Brassicaceae.

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Plants are hubs of organismic interactions. They constantly engage in beneficial or competitive interactions with fungi, oomycetes, bacteria, insects, nematodes, and other plants. To adjust the molecular processes necessary for the establishment and maintenance of beneficial interactions and for the defense against pathogens and herbivores, plants have evolved intricate regulatory mechanisms.

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Studies on "epigenetic inheritance" or "transgenerational epigenetic inheritance" have emerged at ever-increasing numbers in the last years, in plant as well as animal systems and in diverse contexts ranging from stress adaptation to behavioral studies. Despite the very different organisms and biological processes investigated, the overarching question has been if and how an organism's epigenome registers and records external cues and relays this information to its progeny. Very often, these experiments are based on the hypothesis that epigenetic memorization of events or conditions could be the basis of an altered response of the progeny upon encountering the same or a similar condition.

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Contents Summary 731 I. Biotic interactions in the context of genetic, epigenetic and environmental diversity 731 II. Biotic interactions affect epigenetic configuration 732 III.

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The proper development of fruits is important for the sexual reproduction and propagation of many plant species. The fruit of Arabidopsis derives from the fertilized gynoecium, which initiates at the center of the flower and obtains its final shape, size, and functional tissues through progressive stages of development. Hormones, specially auxins, play important roles in gynoecium and fruit patterning.

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Cytokinins have many essential roles in embryonic and post-embryonic growth and development, but their role in fruit morphogenesis is currently not really known. Moreover, information about the spatio-temporal localization pattern of cytokinin signaling in gynoecia and fruits is lacking. Therefore, the synthetic reporter line TCS::GFP was used to visualize cytokinin signaling during gynoecium and fruit development.

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