Jumping Genes Help Black Truffles Adapt To Their Environment

Tuber melanosporum - black or Périgord truffles - are fungi that grow in symbiosis with the roots of oak and hazelnut trees. In the world of haute cuisine, they are expensive and highly prized. Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression caused by mechanisms other than changes in the DNA sequence. In the world of epigenetics, black truffles are of major interest because of their unique pattern of DNA methylation, a biochemical process that chemically modifies nucleic acids without changing their sequence.  A newly published reports on the truffle's unique genetic makeup. read more

Read the whole article on

More from