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Molecular Biology and Gene Regulation

Specific Levels of DNA Methylation in Various Tissues, Cell Lines, and Cell Types of Daucus carota¹

Institute of Plant Physiology, University of Copenhagen, 2A Øster Farimagsgade, DK-1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark, Biotechnology Research Division, Danisco A/S, 1 Langebrogade, P.O. Box 17, DK-1001 Copenhagen K, Denmark

The level of DNA methylation in Daucus carota was found to be tissue specific, but no simple correlation between developmental stage or age of tissue and the level of DNA methylation was found. Among three different suspension culture lines from the same variety grown under identical conditions, large differences in the level of DNA methylation were observed. The highest and lowest levels were found in two embryogenic cell lines originating from the same clone. Suspension cells from one of the embryogenic cell lines were fractionated into three morphologically defined cell types using Percoll gradient density centrifugation, and the uniformity of these fractions was evaluated by image analysis. The three cell types showed different levels of DNA methylation. The lowest level was found in the fraction containing the precursor cells of somatic embryos.