How plants selectively silence jumping genes while protecting essential ones

Histone variants help establish DNA methylation at transposons (jumping genes) while preventing this epigenetic modification from spreading to essential genes in plants, a study from the Institute of Science Tokyo reveals. By revealing how these chromosome-associated proteins guide the formation of precise epigenomic patterns, the findings provide new insights into the selective silencing of transposons, laying the groundwork for future epigenome-editing technologies for crop improvement and disease research.