Consistent and heritable alterations of DNA methylation are induced by tissue culture in maize.

ABSTRACT: Plants regenerated from tissue culture and their progenies are expected to be identical clones, but often display heritable molecular and phenotypic variation. We characterized DNA methylation patterns in callus, primary regenerants, and regenerant-derived progenies of maize using immunoprecipitation of methylated DNA (meDIP) to assess the genome-wide frequency, pattern, and heritability of DNA methylation changes. Although genome-wide DNA methylation levels remained similar following tissue culture, numerous regions exhibited altered DNA methylation levels. Hypomethylation events were observed more frequently than hypermethylation following tissue culture. Many of the hypomethylation events occur at the same genomic sites across independent regenerants and cell lines. The DNA methylation

SUBMITTER: Stelpflug SC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4174933 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature