The significance of DNA methylation on the diversity of species

Student name: Thi Thu Huong Nguyen
ID: 41872406

Epigenetic is a term referring to heritable changes in the gene expression. This phenomenon relates to cytosine methylation of DNA molecule and condensation of DNA molecule with proteins. Differences in term of DNA methylation could lead to diversity of species. However, there is a small amount of research in regard to implications of the DNA methylation. This particular article focuses on investigating the level of DNA methylation polymorphism in Brassica oleracea using the methylation sensitive amplification polymorphism (MSAP) technique. After carrying out the analysis of the four morphotypes (kale, cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage), authors drew a number of conclusions on their study. Firstly, researchers pointed out that there is an inheritance of a large number of MSAP fragments through generations. Secondly, they observed that a higher proportion of MSAP methylation occurs in Brassica oleracea than that in other species. It is probably caused by concentration of heterochromatic regions when sampling MSAP, the polypoid origin of Brassica oleracea as well as the correspondence of the MSAP-methylated markers with transposons. Finally, they concluded that the phenetic classification based on the MSAP fragments does not match which the morphotype classification based on AFLP fragments.