Analysis of the expression pattern of the defensin gene in the lepidopteran Mamestra
2004
Borsatti, F | Casarini, L | Mandrioli, M
Southern blotting experiments performed on Mamestra brassicae genomic DNA after digestion withmethylation-sensitive restriction enzymes indicated that defensin gene is methylated at CpG targets inthe promoter region. However, defensin gene is actively transcribed despite the presence ofmethylation. Experiments performed by genome demethylation indicated that demethylated defensingene resulted in an altered expression after bacterial induction. In particular, no increase in geneexpression was observed after induction with Gram positive bacteria if defensin gene wasdemethylated. The present results are intriguing since they indicate that in M. brassicae DNAmethylation is not involved in gene silencing, but also that DNA methylation could be essential toassure the expression of specific genes. On the whole, data here presented argue against an unifyingand evolutionary conserved role of cytosine methylation from invertebrates to vertebrates.
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