Epigenetic Mechanisms of Plant Reproduction, Heterosis and Tissue Culture

Epigenetics refers to the phenomenon beyond genetics. These variations are associated with changes in gene expression due to various mechanisms. Epigenetics has a great potential role in plant breeding as it affects several important phenomena. There are various mechanisms to induce epigenetic modifications of which tissue culture is the most common, as it induces epigenetic variations by rearranging the chromatin material. Environmental alterations can widely impact the epigenetic regulations and procedures; hence epigenetic studies help in the development of climate-resilient crops under plant breeding programs. Therefore, these epigenetic processes provide new hopes for crop improvement, hybrid breeding, and tissue culture improvement, leading to sustainable agricultural developments. In this chapter, we discuss some epigenetic regulations and their potential role in the development of climate-resilient crop genotypes.