Education
- PhD, 2005, University of California, Berkeley
- BA, 1998, Biology, Williams College
Research Summary
We focus on plant epigenetics — that is, the heritable information that influences cellular function but is not encoded in the DNA sequence itself. We use genetic, genomic and molecular biology approaches to study the fidelity of epigenetic inheritance and the dynamics of epigenomic reprogramming during reproduction, primarily in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. More specifically, we investigate the interplay among repetitive sequences, DNA methylation and chromatin structure in these dynamic processes.Awards
- Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award, 2013
- Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences, 2011
Key Publications
- Proximal methylation features associated with nonrandom changes in gene body methylation. Picard, CL, Gehring, M. 2017. Genome Biol. 18, 73.
doi: 10.1186/s13059-017-1206-2PMID:28446217 - Conserved imprinting associated with unique epigenetic signatures in the Arabidopsis genus. Klosinska, M, Picard, CL, Gehring, M. 2016. Nat Plants 2, 16145.
doi: 10.1038/nplants.2016.145PMID:27643534 - Methylation-sensitive expression of a DNA demethylase gene serves as an epigenetic rheostat. Williams, BP, Pignatta, D, Henikoff, S, Gehring, M. 2015. PLoS Genet. 11, e1005142.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1005142PMID:25826366 - Natural epigenetic polymorphisms lead to intraspecific variation in Arabidopsis gene imprinting. Pignatta, D, Erdmann, RM, Scheer, E, Picard, CL, Bell, GW, Gehring, M. 2014. Elife 3, e03198.
doi: 10.7554/eLife.03198PMID:24994762 - Extensive demethylation of repetitive elements during seed development underlies gene imprinting. Gehring, M, Bubb, KL, Henikoff, S. 2009. Science 324, 1447-51.
doi: 10.1126/science.1171609PMID:19520961
Recent Publications
- Principles of Epigenetic Homeostasis Shared Between Flowering Plants and Mammals. Williams, BP, Gehring, M. 2020. Trends Genet. 36, 751-763.
doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2020.06.019PMID:32711945 - Water lily (Nymphaea thermarum) genome reveals variable genomic signatures of ancient vascular cambium losses. Povilus, RA, DaCosta, JM, Grassa, C, Satyaki, PRV, Moeglein, M, Jaenisch, J, Xi, Z, Mathews, S, Gehring, M, Davis, CC et al.. 2020. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117, 8649-8656.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1922873117PMID:32234787 - Identification and Comparison of Imprinted Genes Across Plant Species. Picard, CL, Gehring, M. 2020. Methods Mol. Biol. 2093, 173-201.
doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0179-2_13PMID:32088897 - Paternally Acting Canonical RNA-Directed DNA Methylation Pathway Genes Sensitize Arabidopsis Endosperm to Paternal Genome Dosage. Satyaki, PRV, Gehring, M. 2019. Plant Cell 31, 1563-1578.
doi: 10.1105/tpc.19.00047PMID:31064867 - Epigenetic dynamics during flowering plant reproduction: evidence for reprogramming? Gehring, M. 2019. New Phytol. 224, 91-96.
doi: 10.1111/nph.15856PMID:31002174 - Low-input chromatin profiling in Arabidopsis endosperm using CUT&RUN. Zheng, XY, Gehring, M. 2019. Plant Reprod 32, 63-75.
doi: 10.1007/s00497-018-00358-1PMID:30719569 - Ten things you should know about transposable elements. Bourque, G, Burns, KH, Gehring, M, Gorbunova, V, Seluanov, A, Hammell, M, Imbeault, M, Izsvák, Z, Levin, HL, Macfarlan, TS et al.. 2018. Genome Biol. 19, 199.
doi: 10.1186/s13059-018-1577-zPMID:30454069 - A variably imprinted epiallele impacts seed development. Pignatta, D, Novitzky, K, Satyaki, PRV, Gehring, M. 2018. PLoS Genet. 14, e1007469.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1007469PMID:30395602 - A Small RNA Pathway Mediates Allelic Dosage in Endosperm. Erdmann, RM, Satyaki, PRV, Klosinska, M, Gehring, M. 2017. Cell Rep 21, 3364-3372.
doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2017.11.078PMID:29262317 - Stable transgenerational epigenetic inheritance requires a DNA methylation-sensing circuit. Williams, BP, Gehring, M. 2017. Nat Commun 8, 2124.
doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02219-3PMID:29242626