Premium
Evidence for cytosine methylation of non‐symmetrical sequences in transgenic Petunia hybrida.
Author(s) -
Meyer P.,
Niedenhof I.,
Lohuis M.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1994.tb06483.x
Subject(s) - cytosine , biology , methylation , cpg site , dna methylation , petunia , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , gene , gene expression
A considerable proportion of cytosine residues in plants are methylated at carbon 5. According to a well‐accepted rule, cytosine methylation is confined to symmetrical sequences such as CpG and CpNpG, which provide the signal for faithful transmission of symmetrical methylation patterns by maintenance methylase. Using a genomic sequencing technique, we have analysed cytosine methylation patterns within a hypermethylated and a hypomethylated state of a transgene in Petunia hybrida. Examination of a part of the transgene promoter revealed that in both states m5C residues located within non‐symmetrical sequences could be detected. Non‐symmetrical C residues in the two states were methylated at frequencies of 5.9 and 31.9%, respectively. Methylation appeared to be distributed heterogeneously, but some DNA regions were more intensively methylated than others. Our results show that at least in a transgene, a heterogeneous methylation pattern, which does not depend on symmetry of target sequences, can be established and conserved.