Mutations, epimutations, and the developmental programming of the maize Suppressor-mutator transposable element

✍ Scribed by Nina Fedoroff; Patrick Masson; Jo Ann Banks

• Book ID: 102761581
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 842 KB
• Volume: 10
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0265-9247
• DOI: 10.1002/bies.950100502

✦ Synopsis

Information about the structure, function and regulation of the maize Suppressor-mutator (Spm) transposable element has emerged from the genetic and molecular characterization of both deletion mutations and an unconventional type of reversible genetic change (epimutation). The element is subject to an epigenetic mechanism that can either stably inactivate it or specify one of a variety of heritable programs of differential element expression in development. The essay explores the relationship between the Spm element's epigenetic developmental programming mechanism and the determinative events central to plant development and differentiation.