Roles for epigenetics in wood formation and stress response intrees–from basic biology to forest management
Annual model and crop species have been the subject of most epigenetic studies for plants. In contrast to annuals, forest trees persist on natural landscapes and experience environmental variation within and across seasons, years, and decades or even centuries. Most forest trees species are undomest...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Epigenetics and Epigenomics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/freae.2025.1476499/full |
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| author | Andrew Groover |
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| author_sort | Andrew Groover |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Annual model and crop species have been the subject of most epigenetic studies for plants. In contrast to annuals, forest trees persist on natural landscapes and experience environmental variation within and across seasons, years, and decades or even centuries. Most forest trees species are undomesticated and typically grown on variable landscapes with no irrigation or application of agricultural chemicals. Forest trees must thus rely on their inherent ability to alter growth and physiology to mitigate the effects of changing abiotic and biotic stressors. Like other plants, trees have mechanisms encoded in their genomic DNA sequence that can respond directly to stress events such as drought or heat. Hypothetically, it would be highly advantageous to join these mechanisms with a dynamic “memory” of past exposure to stress. It is now well established that annual model and crop plants can establish epigenetic-based memory of stress events that support more rapid and robust response to stress in the future. Here, evidence is discussed for epigenetic regulation and “memory” in two fundamental biological processes in trees, wood formation and abiotic stress response. Wood formation is an ideal trait for epigenetic research in trees, as wood formation is highly responsive to environmental conditions and includes multiple rapid developmental changes as cells adopt distinct fates within complex tissues. This is followed by a discussion of research needs that would provide the foundation for new epigenetic applications for forestry. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4e5627be8d1e44aebcdfcb32eb91b7df |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2813-706X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Epigenetics and Epigenomics |
| spelling | doaj-art-4e5627be8d1e44aebcdfcb32eb91b7df2025-08-20T02:45:19ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Epigenetics and Epigenomics2813-706X2025-02-01310.3389/freae.2025.14764991476499Roles for epigenetics in wood formation and stress response intrees–from basic biology to forest managementAndrew GrooverAnnual model and crop species have been the subject of most epigenetic studies for plants. In contrast to annuals, forest trees persist on natural landscapes and experience environmental variation within and across seasons, years, and decades or even centuries. Most forest trees species are undomesticated and typically grown on variable landscapes with no irrigation or application of agricultural chemicals. Forest trees must thus rely on their inherent ability to alter growth and physiology to mitigate the effects of changing abiotic and biotic stressors. Like other plants, trees have mechanisms encoded in their genomic DNA sequence that can respond directly to stress events such as drought or heat. Hypothetically, it would be highly advantageous to join these mechanisms with a dynamic “memory” of past exposure to stress. It is now well established that annual model and crop plants can establish epigenetic-based memory of stress events that support more rapid and robust response to stress in the future. Here, evidence is discussed for epigenetic regulation and “memory” in two fundamental biological processes in trees, wood formation and abiotic stress response. Wood formation is an ideal trait for epigenetic research in trees, as wood formation is highly responsive to environmental conditions and includes multiple rapid developmental changes as cells adopt distinct fates within complex tissues. This is followed by a discussion of research needs that would provide the foundation for new epigenetic applications for forestry.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/freae.2025.1476499/fullabiotic stressdroughtepigeneticsforest managementwood formation |
| spellingShingle | Andrew Groover Roles for epigenetics in wood formation and stress response intrees–from basic biology to forest management Frontiers in Epigenetics and Epigenomics abiotic stress drought epigenetics forest management wood formation |
| title | Roles for epigenetics in wood formation and stress response intrees–from basic biology to forest management |
| title_full | Roles for epigenetics in wood formation and stress response intrees–from basic biology to forest management |
| title_fullStr | Roles for epigenetics in wood formation and stress response intrees–from basic biology to forest management |
| title_full_unstemmed | Roles for epigenetics in wood formation and stress response intrees–from basic biology to forest management |
| title_short | Roles for epigenetics in wood formation and stress response intrees–from basic biology to forest management |
| title_sort | roles for epigenetics in wood formation and stress response intrees from basic biology to forest management |
| topic | abiotic stress drought epigenetics forest management wood formation |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/freae.2025.1476499/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT andrewgroover rolesforepigeneticsinwoodformationandstressresponseintreesfrombasicbiologytoforestmanagement |