Epigenetic Chromatin Modifications in Brassica Genomes

Epigenetic modifications such as histone and DNA methylation are highly conserved among eukaryotes, although the nuclear patterns of these modifications vary between different species. Brassica species represent a very attractive model for analysis of epigenetic changes because of their differences in genome size, ploidy level, and the organization of heterochromatin blocks. Brassica rapa and B. oleracea are diploid species, and B. napus is an allotetraploid species that arose from the hybridization of these two diploids. We found that patterns of DNA and histone H3 methylation differ between Brassica species. The most prominent differences concern the two diploids. DNA methylation was present exclusively in the heterochromatin only in B. rapa. In B. oleracea and B. napus this modification was detected in both euchromatin and heterochromatin. A similar pattern was observed for dimethylation of lysine 9. Dimethylation of lysine 4 is a typical marker of euchromatin in Brassica species, like it is in other plant species. We conclude that the diploid species differ in patterns of analyzed epigenetic modifications and the allotetraploid B. napus has combined patterns from both diploids. Differences in patterns of DNA and histone H3 methylation between Brassica species can be attributed mainly to the genome structure and heterochromatin localization rather than ploidy level.