Biodiv Sci ›› 2010, Vol. 18 ›› Issue (3): 227-232.  DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1003.2010.227

• Special Issue • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Surveying DNA methylation diversity in the wild rice, Oryza nivaraand O. rufipogon

Yingying Cui, Daming Zhang()   

  1. State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093
  • Received:2009-10-19 Accepted:2009-12-16 Online:2010-05-20 Published:2012-02-08
  • Contact: Daming Zhang

Abstract:

Intra- and inter-population methylation diversity at CCGG sites were surveyed in the genomes of Oryza nivaraandO. rufipogonusing a modified MSAP (methylation-sensitive amplification polymorphism) technique. These two wild species were closely related to cultivated rice in that they share the common A genome. Results revealed that methylated bands were uniform among different individuals of the same IRGC (International Rice Germplasm Center) accession, but polymorphic among different populations within the IRGC. Methylated bands could be divided into two categories, i.e., the conserved group (Class I), and the polymorphic group (Class II). Comparing the gene sequences of the two classes to the homologous sequences of japonica and indica varieties, Class I was conservative, but Class II was variable and evolutionarily active. DNA methylation diversity was an informative indicator of genetic diversity in Oryza. However, further studies of population differentiation and species evolution are needed.

Key words: epialleles, MSAP, population differentiation, evolution