Characterization of epigenetic biomarkers using new molecular approaches

Abstract

Plants exhibit a polymorphism of DNA methylation status in their genomes in relation to various breeding traits and phenotypes. Evidence for relationships between DNA methylation and given phenotypes can be shown through the variations of phenotypes after treatments that alter DNA methylation percentages or through the variations of methylation percentages in different phenotypes. The corresponding epialleles are potential biomarkers for plant breeding selection. The target genes of these epigenetic modifications could be identified with a genome scanning approach using methyl-sensitive enzymes or methyl-binding affinity columns. Correlations between DNA methylation polymorphism and phenotypes could be tested using various methods such as bisulfite sequencing, physiological and genetic analyses. Identification of methylation biomarkers by these new molecular approaches have been successfully applied to human cancer detection and should be now envisaged for plant breeding selection.