Moore Foundation grantee Robert Martienssen is part of a research effort that recently discovered a new epigenetic mechanism that explains why a certain number of oil palm plants that are propagated through cloning bear disfigured fruit and have lower yields of oil. The mechanism, which is described in a paper published in Nature, has been named “Bad Karma” by the researchers who explain that this finding is particularly important because of the use of these palms for the production of oil. Clonal palms that do not have this mutation are the most efficient producers of oil and efforts to increase the oil yield of each palm helps to limit further growth in sensitive habitats.
In the press release, Dr. Martienssen explains that: “while the importance of these findings for creating a more sustainable palm oil industry cannot be understated, a particularly compelling implication of this work is that it provides an epigenetic explanation for somaclonal variation, which is the technical term for when a clone differs from its genetically identical parent. The finding that transposons and small RNA are responsible for somaclonal variation builds on decades of research in epigenetics, going back to Barbara McClintock's work on maize at Cold Spring Harbor. The technology we used will have widespread applicability to similar phenomena in many important crops."
Read the press release here.
Dr. Martienssen is an HHMI-GBMF Plant Biology Investigator. Learn more about the Moore Foundation’s collaboration with Howard Hughes Medical Institute here.
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