Fossdal, Carl GunnarKrokene, PaalOlsen, Jorunn ElisabethStrimbeck, RichardViejo Somoano, MarcosYakovlev, IgorMageroy, Melissa H.2025-09-092025-09-092024-01-31Carl Gunnar Fossdal, Paal Krokene, Jorunn Elisabeth Olsen, Richard Strimbeck, Marcos Viejo, Igor Yakovlev, Melissa H Mageroy, Epigenetic stress memory in gymnosperms, Plant Physiology, Volume 195, Issue 2, June 2024, Pages 1117–1133, https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiae0511117-1133https://hdl.handle.net/10347/42785Gymnosperms are long-lived, cone-bearing seed plants that include some of the most ancient extant plant species. These relict land plants have evolved to survive in habitats marked by chronic or episodic stress. Their ability to thrive in these environments is partly due to their phenotypic flexibility, and epigenetic regulation likely plays a crucial part in this plasticity. We review the current knowledge on abiotic and biotic stress memory in gymnosperms and the possible epigenetic mechanisms underlying long-term phenotypic adaptations. We also discuss recent technological improvements and new experimental possibilities that likely will advance our understanding of epigenetic regulation in these ancient and hard-to-study plants.eng© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of American Society of Plant Biologists. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly citedAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/journal article10.1093/plphys/kiae051open access