TABLE 2.
The instances of epigenetic diversity and its relationship with environmental factors.
| Plant species (family) | Environmental factor/Population description | Inference | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laguncularia racemosa (Combretaceae) | Riverside and salt marsh habitats; two populations with different exposure to salt stress | Two populations growing in different environments showed little variation with AFLP but had clear epigenetic variation as defined by MSAP. | Lira-Medeiros et al. (2010) |
| Trifolium pratense (Fabaceae) | Two populations from calcareous and oat grass meadows | Low levels of genetic and epigenetic variations. Genetic variation was influenced by the habitat-specific environment while epigenetic variation was dependent on environmental conditions | Lehmair et al. (2022) |
| Lilium bosniacum (Liliaceae) | Altitude and soil type | Two habitats, high altitude with limestone soil (1850 m) and low altitude with serpentine soil (853 m) were studied. Environment-induced epigenetic marks related to population differentiation in Lily plants differed in global methylation, presence of B chromosomes, rDNA repatterning, and chromosomal rearrangements linked to DNA demethylation that led to TE activation | Zoldoš et al. (2018) |
| Populus nigra (Salicaceae) | Soil water availability | Height and biomass were observed to be negatively correlated with global DNA methylation under drought stress. The population differentiation was very well indicated by global methylation pattern changes under drought conditions | Sow et al. (2018) |
| Viola elatior (Violaceae) | Light availability | Epigenetic population differentiation was more strongly related to habitat types than genetic differentiation | Schulz et al. (2014) |
| Unmethylated and CG-methylated states of epiloci primarily contributed to population differentiation | |||
| Hydrocotyle vulgaris (Araliaceae) | Flooding | Different epi-phenotypes and epigenetic differentiation between semi-submerged and submerged populations were observed. Variability was observed to be contributed by unmethylated and CHG-hemimethylated epigenetic states, specific epiloci were identified for two flood conditions | Wang et al. (2022) |
| Picea abies (Pinaceae) | Temperature and Rainfall | 334 differentially methylated positions (DMPs) were identified between different populations at different temperature and rainfall levels. Differential Epigenetic methylation patterns contributed to adaptation in varied environments | Heer et al. (2018a) |
| Quercus ilex (Fagaceae) | Drought | Drought-exposed plants had a higher percentage of hypermethylated loci and reduced fully methylated loci. Changes in DNA methylation could not prevent the reduction in growth and higher mortality associated with drought | Rico et al. (2014) |
| Eucalyptus grandis × E. urophylla and E. urophylla (Myrtaceae) | Water availability | Four E. grandis × E. urophylla clones and 1 E. urophylla clone analyzed at two experimental sites, one with uniform precipitation and the other with a long dry season and a 4 °C higher annual average temperature, were studied. A stronger correlation was observed between the detected DNA methylation and genetic background than between DNA methylation and environment. Clone/genotype-specific DNA methylation changes at specific sites were observed | Pereira et al. (2020b) |
| Hybrid Poplar genotypes | Drought | Global methylation differences were observed within the genotypes in two of the three hybrids. Effects were more pronounced in genotypes grown for the longest durations at different habitats. Genetically identical ramets show epigenetic differences correlated to different environments | Raj et al. (2011) |
| DN34, Walker and Okanese (Salicaceae) | Environmental epigenetic differentiation was transmitted to vegetative offspring |