Plants grow in dynamic environments where they receive diverse environmental signals. Swift and precise control of gene expression is essential for plants to align their development and metabolism with fluctuating surroundings. Modifications on histones serve as “histone code” to specify chromatin and gene activities. Different modifications execute distinct functions on the chromatin, promoting either active transcription or gene silencing. Histone writers, erasers, and readers mediate the regulation of histone modifications by catalyzing, removing, and recognizing modifications, respectively. Growing evidence indicates the important function of histone modifications in plant development and environmental responses. Histone modifications also serve as environmental memory for plants to adapt to environmental changes. Here we review recent progress on the regulation of histone modifications in plants, the impact of histone modifications on environment-controlled developmental transitions including germination and flowering, and the role of histone modifications in environmental memory.

植物生长在动态环境中，在这些环境中，植物会接收各种环境信号。快速而精确地控制基因表达对于植物使其生长发育和新陈代谢与环境变化保持一致至关重要。组蛋白的修饰用作“组蛋白密码”，以指定染色质和基因活性。不同的修饰在染色质上执行不同的功能，从而促进活性转录或基因沉默。组蛋白的作者，橡皮擦和读者分别通过催化，去除和识别修饰来介导组蛋白修饰的调控。越来越多的证据表明，组蛋白修饰在植物发育和环境响应中的重要作用。组蛋白修饰也可作为植物的环境记忆，以适应环境变化。