A Genome-Wide Epigenetic Study of Hexaploid Wheat

Methylation is an additional and heritable mechanism of controlling gene expression. Here, we use sodium bisulfite treatment in combination with targeted sequence enrichment to study genome-wide methylation patterns across the 3 genomes of allohexaploid wheat.

This investigation tested firstly, whether differential methylation exists between the A, B and D genomes of wheat, identifying an increase in D genome methylation; secondly, whether altered growth temperature can affect the methylation state, identifying a small but functionally predictable set of methylated genes; finally, whether temperature or genome specific differential methylation affects gene expression, identifying a clear correlation between methylation state and differential expression.