Abstract
The importance of DNA methylation in mammalian and plant systems is well established. In recent years there has been renewed interest in DNA methylation in insects. Accumulating evidence, both from mammals and insects, points towards an emerging role for DNA methylation in the regulation of phenotypic plasticity. The migratory locust (Locusta migratoria) is a model organism for the study of phenotypic plasticity. Despite this, there is little information available about the degree to which the genome is methylated in this species and genes encoding methylation machinery have not been previously identified. We therefore undertook an initial investigation to establish the presence of a functional DNA methylation system in L. migratoria. We found that the migratory locust possesses genes that putatively encode methylation machinery (DNA methyltransferases and a methyl-binding domain protein) and exhibits genomic methylation, some of which appears to be localised to repetitive regions of the genome. We have also identified a distinct group of genes within the L. migratoria genome that appear to have been historically methylated and show some possible functional differentiation. These results will facilitate more detailed research into the functional significance of DNA methylation in locusts.
Highlights
DNA methylation is a taxonomically widespread epigenetic marker to which many non-exclusive functions have been attributed, among them genomic imprinting and the regulation of phenotypic plasticity [1,2,3,4,5]
No distinction was evident between the HpaII and MspI digests of either D. melanogaster, the adult genome of which contains virtually no methylcytosine, or the honeybee, which possesses a functional CpG methylation system, but relatively low levels of genomic methylation (Figure 1a)
The present study provides the first evidence that the genome of L. migratoria contains genes encoding DNA methylation machinery, and demonstrates using two independent lines of evidence that the genome is methylated to a considerable degree
Summary
DNA methylation is a taxonomically widespread epigenetic marker to which many non-exclusive functions have been attributed, among them genomic imprinting and the regulation of phenotypic plasticity [1,2,3,4,5]. It was originally considered doubtful that DNA methylation was biologically significant in insects, based upon the results of initial studies using Drosophila melanogaster adults [6]. Low levels of DNA methylation were found in the coleopteran Tribolium castaneum [9,10]. A growing body of research has indicated that in a number of insect species DNA methylation is both present at appreciable levels and regulates diverse and important biological processes. In mealybugs (Planococcus citri) it is thought to be responsible for genomic imprinting [2] and in the peach aphid (Myzus persicae) has been associated with pesticide resistance [12,13,14]
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