Phenotypic, epigenetic, and fitness diversity within plant genotypes

Abstract

Plant plastic responses to environmental variation, at scales smaller than the individual plant size, promote phenotypic and epigenetic diversity among repeated structures within genotypes. Different epigenetic marks in the somatic line can translate to the germline and seeds, generating a fitness patchwork in the progeny with unexplored effects on plant evolutionary dynamics.

Keywords: individual; modular organisms; phenotypic plasticity; subindividual transgenerational effects; subindividual variation; transgenerational epigenetic inheritance.