Know more

About cookies

What is a "cookie"?

A "cookie" is a piece of information, usually small and identified by a name, which may be sent to your browser by a website you are visiting. Your web browser will store it for a period of time, and send it back to the web server each time you log on again.

Different types of cookies are placed on the sites:

Cookies strictly necessary for the proper functioning of the site
Cookies deposited by third party sites to improve the interactivity of the site, to collect statistics

Learn more about cookies and how they work

The different types of cookies used on this site

Cookies strictly necessary for the site to function

These cookies allow the main services of the site to function optimally. You can technically block them using your browser settings but your experience on the site may be degraded.

Furthermore, you have the possibility of opposing the use of audience measurement tracers strictly necessary for the functioning and current administration of the website in the cookie management window accessible via the link located in the footer of the site.

Technical cookies

Name of the cookie	Purpose	Shelf life
CAS and PHP session cookies	Login credentials, session security	Session
Tarteaucitron	Saving your cookie consent choices	12 months

Audience measurement cookies (AT Internet)

Name of the cookie	Purpose	Shelf life
atid	Trace the visitor's route in order to establish visit statistics.	13 months
atuserid	Store the anonymous ID of the visitor who starts the first time he visits the site	13 months
atidvisitor	Identify the numbers (unique identifiers of a site) seen by the visitor and store the visitor's identifiers.	13 months

About the AT Internet audience measurement tool :

AT Internet's audience measurement tool Analytics is deployed on this site in order to obtain information on visitors' navigation and to improve its use.

The French data protection authority (CNIL) has granted an exemption to AT Internet's Web Analytics cookie. This tool is thus exempt from the collection of the Internet user's consent with regard to the deposit of analytics cookies. However, you can refuse the deposit of these cookies via the cookie management panel.

Good to know:

The data collected are not cross-checked with other processing operations
The deposited cookie is only used to produce anonymous statistics
The cookie does not allow the user's navigation on other sites to be tracked.

Third party cookies to improve the interactivity of the site

This site relies on certain services provided by third parties which allow :

to offer interactive content;
improve usability and facilitate the sharing of content on social networks;
view videos and animated presentations directly on our website;
protect form entries from robots;
monitor the performance of the site.

These third parties will collect and use your browsing data for their own purposes.

How to accept or reject cookies

When you start browsing an eZpublish site, the appearance of the "cookies" banner allows you to accept or refuse all the cookies we use. This banner will be displayed as long as you have not made a choice, even if you are browsing on another page of the site.

You can change your choices at any time by clicking on the "Cookie Management" link.

You can manage these cookies in your browser. Here are the procedures to follow: Firefox; Chrome; Explorer; Safari; Opera

For more information about the cookies we use, you can contact INRAE's Data Protection Officer by email at cil-dpo@inrae.fr or by post at :

INRAE

24, chemin de Borde Rouge -Auzeville - CS52627 31326 Castanet Tolosan cedex - France

Last update: May 2021

Research Topics

Epigenetics describes different mechanisms that allow transmission of gene expression states through cell division and from one generation to another. This is very important because it means that not only the DNA sequence can be inherited but also “memories” of environmental influences (e.g. abiotic and biotic stresses) that have led to transmissible changes of the chromatin structure. The chromatin structure can be influenced by DNA methylation and histone modifications. While a lot of knowledge has been acquired in model plants (such as Arabidopsis), little is currently known in crops and it is therefore not yet being used in breeding.

In the last decades plant breeding has made great advances with the help of genetic markers. However, the existence of epigenetic control of important traits in crops can make that the genotype does not always explain fully the phenotype and thus may limit the informative value of genetic markers. That is why it is now important to assess the epigenotype of crops (consisting of a map of genome-wide DNA methylation and histone modification patterns) to further accelerate breeding. This is particularly important in Rosaceae because they are predominately multiplied asexually by vegetative propagation (cloning). In comparison to sexual reproduction, vegetative reproduction hugely increases the likelihood of inheritance of epigenetic marks from one plant to another. Therefore, all adaptations of plants to their environment that involves an epigenetic mark will represent a “memory” of the cultivar that will be transmitted to the next generation by cutting or grafting. Such populations will evolve as the clonal generations go by to develop different phenotypes without changes at the DNA sequence level.

The main questions that are being addressed by VALEMA are of basic biological nature but with a direct link to applications:

1- What is the role of epigenetics in the control of plant’s development in response to biotic or abiotic stress?

2- Can epigenetic marks be memorized by the plants, and by which mechanism?

3- Can epigenetic marks be transmitted by clonal propagation?

4- What are the effects of epigenetically primed rootstocks on scion’s development?

5- Can epigenetics be developed as a tool to help improve plant breeding?

6- What is the extent of natural epigenetic variation in perennial plants?