Genomic and epigenomic events occurring during germination

Seeds integrate environmental information and trigger molecular pathways that help with the decision making process of whether to germinate or not. Several studies in numerous species have shown details of global transcriptomic changes during germination. However, Narsai et al. dig a little deeper. By using next-generation sequencing, they explored not only transcriptomic changes (including unannotated loci), but also the occurrence of alternative splicing events, changes in small- and micro-RNAs expression, as well as changes in DNA methylation patterns. The paper is rich in data (publicly available) and certainly shows how dynamic are the molecular events that underlie seed germination. (Summary by Gaby Auge) Genome Biology 10.1186/s13059-017-1302-3