Plasmonics: An Optical Approach to Study Plant Epigenetics

Abstract

Essential factors that control gene stability and expression are collectively known as epigenetics. Within the most well-studied epigenetic mechanisms are DNA methylation and histone modifications. A broad range of methods has been used for identifying differentially methylated regions, including biotechnological and enzymatic techniques. Nevertheless, in the last decade, there has been a proliferation of techniques called plasmonics which have emerged as an alternative to studying epigenetics. They take advantage of the different chemical composition of methylated compared to unmethylated histones and nucleotides to quantify their optical properties. Here, we introduce the basics of plasmonics and present a detailed description of how these techniques work. We also provide an outlook on the application of plasmonics in plant epigenetics.