Grafted plants’ genomes can communicate with each other

Researchers at the Salk Institute and Cambridge University have found that grafted plants can share epigenetic traits. The findings were published in a new paper, “Mobile small RNAs regulate genome-wide DNA methylation,” in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Using modern genetic research, researchers looked at the consequences grafting has for plants and found that grafted plants share epigenetic information.

Here’s more from the Salk Institute:

In epigenetics, chemical markers act on existing genes in a plant or animal’s DNA to turn genes on or off. Epigenetics can determine whether a cell becomes muscle cell or a skin cell and determine how a plant reacts to different soils, climates and disease.

“In the future, this research might allow growers to exploit epigenetic information to improve crops and yields,” says Mathew Lewsey, one of the first authors of the paper and a Salk research associate.

Thanks to new gene editing tools, it will be possible to run similar grafting experiments with the more complicated genomes of popular crops. The two research groups are now planning an extended collaboration to explore these effects in tomatoes and other crops.

To read a summary of the findings, visit the Salk Institute website.