ABSTRACT
Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, 319 Stadium Drive, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA. *Corresponding author: mcginnis@bio.fsu.edu
Epigenetics refers to heritable changes in gene expression that are not caused by changes in DNA sequence. Epigenetic modifi cations include cytosine methylation, histone modifi cations and chromatin structure/ chromatin remodeling. The epigenetic modifi cations that comprise the maize epigenome appear to be conserved across eukaryotes. These epigenetic marks are not mutually exclusive, but rather interdependent; the presence of one specifi c mark at a particular locus often infl uences another. Together, epigenetic modifi cations occur differentially across the genome and infl uence gene expression, plant growth and development.
