Abstract
DNA methylation at cytosine residues is an essential event required for the normal development of multicellular eukaryotes. In plant, a role for DNA methylation in pathogen resistance and genome integrity is well established, but the function of almost all DNA methylation in plant genomes still remains to be unclear. Thus, identification of the degree and genome-wide distribution of DNA methylation would provide important clues to epigenetic machineries associated with development in plants and other organisms.
Recently, comprehensive maps of DNA methylation of the genome of A. thaliana have been reported using whole-genome tiling arrays. Here we have generated DNA methylation profile (methylome) as well as sense and antisense transcription profiles (transcriptome), at 35-base pair resolution, of the genome derived from different organs of the wild-type and the loss-of DNA methyltransferase mutant of Arabidopsis. Possible functions of DNA methylation in regulating sense and antisense transcription are discussed.
