Ethyl Methanesulfonate (EMS) Mutagen Toxicity-Induced DNA Damage, Cytosine Methylation Alteration, and iPBS-Retrotransposon Polymorphisms in Wheat (<i>Triticum aestivum</i> L.)

The use of mutagens in plant breeding is used to create new germplasm, increase agricultural yield, quality, and resistance to diseases and pests. Mutagens are physical or chemical factors that can alter the DNA or RNA structure of an organism, causing mutations above the expected level. One of the most common and potent chemical mutagens is EMS (ethyl-methane sulfonate), which produces point mutations in plants, but to a lesser degree can also cause the loss or deletion of a chromosomal region. This study used inter-primer binding site (iPBS) and coupled restriction enzyme digestion inter-primer binding site (CRED-iPBS) technique analysis to determine the effect of EMS mutagens on methylation rates in wheat genotypes at seedling growth stage. Treatments with five different EMS concentrations (0%; control, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, and 0.4%) at four different times (0; control, 3, 6, and 9 h) were used. Inter-primer binding site (iPBS) markers were employed to assess genomic instability and cytosine methylation in treated wheat. In seeds treated with EMS at different concentrations and times, the disappearance of regular bands and the formation of new bands due to the effects of the EMS mutagen revealed that genetic diversity exists. The CRED-iPBS analysis revealed that the 3 h + 0.1% EMS treatment produced the highest <i>MspI</i> polymorphism value (19.60%), while the 9 h + 0.1% EMS treatment produced the lowest value (10.90%). The mutagenic effects of EMS treatments had considerable polymorphism on a variety of impacts on the cytosine methylation and genomic instability of wheat. According to the current research, EMS mutagenesis may be a practical method for accelerating breeding programs to produce enough genetic diversity in wheat populations. Mutation-assisted breeding and the subsequent selection of desirable mutants using genetic markers may also be carried out in wheat utilizing an integrated strategy.