Promoting gene expression in plants by permissive histone lysine methylation.

Plants utilize sophisticated epigenetic regulatory mechanisms to coordinate changes in gene expression during development and in response to environmental stimuli. Epigenetics refers to the modification of DNA and chromatin associated proteins, which affect gene expression and cell function, without changing the DNA sequence. Such modifications are inherited through mitosis, and in rare instances through meiosis, although it can be reversible and thus regulatory.

Culturing and direct DNA extraction find different fungi from the same ericoid mycorrhizal roots.

•  This study compares DNA and culture-based detection of fungi from 15 ericoid mycorrhizal roots of salal (Gaultheria shallon), from Vancouver Island, BC Canada. •  From the 15 roots, we PCR amplified fungal DNAs and analyzed 156 clones that included the internal transcribed spacer two (ITS2). From 150 different subsections of the same roots, we cultured fungi and analyzed their ITS2 DNAs by RFLP patterns or sequencing.