Epigenetic reprogramming during vegetative phase change in maize.

An important step during plant development is the transition from juvenile to adult growth. It is only after this transition that plants are reproductively competent. Given the great danger that transposon activity represents to the germ line, this may also be an important period during development with respect to transposon regulation and silencing. We demonstrate that a change in expression of a key component of the RNA silencing pathway is associated with both vegetative phase change and shifts in epigenetic regulation of a maize transposon.