Abstract
In the oil palm, plants regenerated from tissue culture frequently show morphological abnormality called "mantled", in which stamens change into carpels, and the epigenetic change possibly occurs in the class B gene. Here we examined methylation of the oil palm EgDEF1, EgGLO1 and EgGLO2 genes in the wild-type plant. Promoters or 5' UTRs of them were not methylated. From exon 4 to intron 6 of EgGLO1, both CG and non-CG sites were highly methylated. In the corresponding region of EgGLO2, only CG sites were highly methylated. Their sequences were highly homologous to each other, but only EgGLO1 had a microsatellite-like sequence. These suggest that the microsatellite-like sequence is involved in the non-CG methylation of EgGLO1. This study was supported by "Molecular genetic studies of the oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) for improvement of the oil production" in '03 from New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) in Japan.
