Natural epigenetic variation in apomictic dandelion lineages

Apomictic dandelions provide a good system to study epigenetic variations that occur in natural populations. These dandelions reproduce with a type of asexual system where the egg cell develops to an embryo in a seed without any fertilization. This means that we can study the epigenetic variation independent from genetic variation because the seeds are a perfect copy of the mother plant. Widespread apomictic lineages lack in genetic variation but are still excellent colonizers of novel habitats. The adaptive potential of these apomicts may partially rely on compensatory mechanisms generating heritable variation, such as increased transposon activity or somatic recombination. An additional mechanism could be epigenetic variation. This assumption is based on our observation that genome wide heritable DNA-methylation variation is readily generated within apomictic dandelion lineages, especially in response to environmental stresses.