Research Article

Methylation-sensitive amplified polymorphism-based genome-wide analysis of cytosine methylation profiles in Nicotiana tabacum cultivars

Published: November 26, 2015
Genet. Mol. Res. 14 (4) : 15177-15187 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4238/2015.November.25.6
Cite this Article:
J. Jiao, J. Wu, Z. Lv, C. Sun, L. Gao, X. Yan, L. Cui, Z. Tang, B. Yan, Y. Jia (2015). Methylation-sensitive amplified polymorphism-based genome-wide analysis of cytosine methylation profiles in Nicotiana tabacum cultivars. Genet. Mol. Res. 14(4): 15177-15187. https://doi.org/10.4238/2015.November.25.6
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Abstract

This study aimed to investigate cytosine methylation profiles in different tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) cultivars grown in China. Methylation-sensitive amplified polymorphism was used to analyze genome-wide global methylation profiles in four tobacco cultivars (Yunyan 85, NC89, K326, and Yunyan 87). Amplicons with methylated C motifs were cloned by reamplified polymerase chain reaction, sequenced, and analyzed. The results show that geographical location had a greater effect on methylation patterns in the tobacco genome than did sampling time. Analysis of the CG dinucleotide distribution in methylation-sensitive polymorphic restriction fragments suggested that a CpG dinucleotide cluster-enriched area is a possible site of cytosine methylation in the tobacco genome. The sequence alignments of the Nia1 gene (that encodes nitrate reductase) in Yunyan 87 in different regions indicate that a C-T transition might be responsible for the tobacco phenotype. T-C nucleotide replacement might also be responsible for the tobacco phenotype and may be influenced by geographical location.

This study aimed to investigate cytosine methylation profiles in different tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) cultivars grown in China. Methylation-sensitive amplified polymorphism was used to analyze genome-wide global methylation profiles in four tobacco cultivars (Yunyan 85, NC89, K326, and Yunyan 87). Amplicons with methylated C motifs were cloned by reamplified polymerase chain reaction, sequenced, and analyzed. The results show that geographical location had a greater effect on methylation patterns in the tobacco genome than did sampling time. Analysis of the CG dinucleotide distribution in methylation-sensitive polymorphic restriction fragments suggested that a CpG dinucleotide cluster-enriched area is a possible site of cytosine methylation in the tobacco genome. The sequence alignments of the Nia1 gene (that encodes nitrate reductase) in Yunyan 87 in different regions indicate that a C-T transition might be responsible for the tobacco phenotype. T-C nucleotide replacement might also be responsible for the tobacco phenotype and may be influenced by geographical location.