Figure 2.

Epigenetic changes lead to phenotypic diversity. (A) Epi-RILs shows phenotypic changes in agronomic traits such as early flowering, increased plant growth, root length, and clubroot resistance. (B) Naturally occurring epialleles have given phenotypic diversity in crops. The state of the OsSPL14 epiallele leads to differences in grain yield between rice varieties (upper). Cultivated cotton has acquired a trait of photoperiodic flowering by epigenetic change on COL2D during the domestication process (lower). (C) Paramutation of the b1 locus is established by the trans-acting epigenetic effect from a paramutagenic allele (B’) to a paramutable allele (B-I) and contributes to the phenotypic change in their progenies.