Integrative analysis of DNA methylation, mRNAs, and small RNAs during maize embryo dedifferentiation

• DOI: 10.1186/s12870-017-1055-x
• Publication Date: 2017-06-15T13:23:47Z
• Authors: Hongjun Liu; Langlang Ma; Xuerong Yang; Lin Zhang; Xing Zeng; Shupeng Xie; Huanwei Peng; Shibin Gao; Haijian Lin; Guangtang Pan; Yongrui Wu; Yaou Shen
• Keywords: Callus; Epigenome; RNA-Directed DNA Methylation; Epigenomics; Differentially methylated regions

Maize (Zea mays) is an important model crop for transgenic studies. However, genetic transformation of maize requires embryonic calli derived from immature embryo, and the impact utilizing tissue culture methods on epigenome poorly understood. Here, we generated whole-genome MeDIP-seq data examining DNA methylation in dedifferentiated normal embryos. We observed that most embryos exhibited a increase compared to Increased at promoters was associated with down-regulated protein-coding gene expression; however, correlation not strong. Analysis callus indicated induced during induction callus, suggesting phenotypic consequences may be caused by perturbations genomic levels. The between 21-24nt small RNAs regions were investigated but only statistically significant 24nt observed. These extend significance epigenetic changes embryo formation, might explain some variation formation.