Epigenetic regulation of plant germline development

Sexual reproduction in flowering plants is carried out by highly specialised lines of cells, called the sexual lineages. A fundamental but unresolved question is how the reproductive function and fate are installed and maintained precisely in these cell lineages. Preliminary studies in the Feng Group suggest that an epigenetic pathway promotes sexual lineage development via controlling the expression of hundreds of genes by DNA methylation, thereby contributing to the shift of gene expression during transition from somatic to reproductive development. This PhD project aims to investigate the molecular mechanism by which the DNA methylation pathway regulates sexual lineage development in the model plant Arabidopsis, using a combination of genetics, molecular and cell biology, epigenetics and genomics. This work will demonstrate, for the first time, how an epigenetic pathway can be tailored in a specific lineage of cells to convey precise biological functions, laying a foundation for the study of epigenetic regulation of plant development.