title: DNA methylation and methylation polymorphism in ecotypes of Jatropha curcas L. using methylation-sensitive AFLP markers.
abstract: We investigated DNA methylation and polymorphism in the methylated DNA using AFLP based methylation-sensitive amplification polymorphism (MS-AFLP) markers in ecotypes of Jatropha curcas L. growing in similar and different geo-ecological conditions. Three ecotypes growing in different geo-ecological conditions with environmental heterogeneity (Group-1) and five ecotypes growing in similar environmental conditions (Group-2) were assessed. In ecotypes growing in group-1, 44.32 % DNA was methylated and of which 93.59 % DNA was polymorphic. While in group-2, 32.27 % DNA was methylated, of which 51.64 % DNA was polymorphic. In site 1 and site 2 of group-1, overall methylation was 18.94 and 22.44 % respectively with difference of 3.5 %, while overall polymorphism was 41.14 and 39.23 % with a difference of 1.91 %. In site 1 and site 2 of group-2, overall methylation was 24.68 and 24.18 % respectively with difference of 0.5 %, while overall polymorphism was 12.19 and 12.65 % with a difference of 0.46 %. The difference of methylation percentage and percentage of methylation polymorphism throughout the genome of J. curcas at site 1 and 2 of group-1 is higher than that of J. curcas at site 1 and 2 of group-2. These results correlated the physico-chemical properties of soil at these sites. The variations of physico-chemical properties of soil at Chorwadla (site 1 in group-1 and site 2 in group-2) compared to the soil at Brahmapur (site 2 in group-1) is higher than that of soil at Neswad (site 1 in group-2). The study suggests that these homologous nucleotide sequences probably play important role in ecotype adaptation to environmental heterogeneity by creating epiallelic variations hence in evolution of ecotypes/clines or forms of species showing phenotypic/genotypic differences in different geographical areas.
authors.affiliation: Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSIR-CSMCRI), Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), Gijubhai Badheka Marg, Bhavnagar, 364 002, Gujarat, India.
authors.forename: Shaik G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Mastan
authors.forename: Mangal S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Rathore
authors.forename: Vacha D
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Bhatt
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chikara
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghosh
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D054458:Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D019175:DNA Methylation; D060146:Ecotype; D018745:Genome, Plant; D031286:Jatropha / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D012987:Soil