Developmental changes in DNA methylation of pollen mother cells of David lily during meiotic prophase I.

Epigenetic marks in the form of DNA methylation are involved in the development of germ cells and are important in the maintenance of fertility. However, the controlling system of the on-off switch for DNA methylation largely remains unclear. In this study, the extent of cytosine methylation during the meiotic prophase I in David lily is assessed using high pressure liquid chromatography to evaluate the DNA methylation rates. Comparing the degree of DNA methylation before, during, and after synizesis, both de novo methylation and demethylation occurred. Mainly the methylation level decreased by 21.3% (from 54.8 to 33.5%) during synizesis in the pollen mother cells. The developmental timing of genome-wide DNA methylation acquisition during pollen mother cell development is clarified in this paper. The relative amounts of 5-methyl-deoxycytidine of global methylation in leaf DNA in David lily were also higher than in other species reported.