Full Length Research Paper

DNA-methylation changes induced by salt stress in wheat Triticum aestivum

Lan Zhong, Yan-hao Xu and Jian-bo Wang*

Key Laboratory of the MOE for Plant Development Biology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, P. R., China

*Corresponding author. E-mail: jbwang@whu.edu.cn. Tel: +86-27-68752213.

Fax: +86-27-68752213.

Accepted 28 September, 2009

   Abstract

The present study was to assess DNA methylation alteration induced by salt stress in two wheat Triticum aestivum cultivars differing in salt tolerance (salt-tolerant Dekang-961 and sensitive Lumai-15), comparatively. The changes in the status of methylation of the CCGG sequence of the nuclear genome of the root DNA of plants exposed to different concentrations of NaCl compared with that of untreated plants were determined by methylation-sensitive amplified polymorphism (MSAP) approach. The result showed that CCGG sequences of Dekang-961 control plants were more methylated than that of Lumai-15. NaCl treatment induced some CCGG sites demethylation and some hypermethylation both in Dekang-961 and Lumai-15, with the net result being genome-wide hypomethylation. These results showed a clear alteration of DNA methylation in plants as a response to salt stress and the effect was dose-dependent. These changes may suggest a mechanism for plants adaptation under salt stress.

Key words: DNA methylation, MSAP, salt stress, wheat.