Methylation Changes in Soybean Mid-Maturation Seed Parts. Glycine max

Seeds are comprised of three majors parts of distinct parental origin: the seed coat, embryo, and endosperm. The maternally-derived seed coat is important for nurturing and protecting the seeds during development. By contrast, the embryo and the endosperm are derived from a double fertilization event, where one sperm fertilizes the egg to form the diploid zygote and the other sperm fertilizes the central cell to form the triploid endosperm. Each seed parts undergo distinct developmental programs during seed development. What methylation changes occurring in the different seed parts, if any, remains unknown. To uncover the possible role of DNA methylation in different parts of the seed, we characterized the methylome of three major parts of an early maturation stage seed: seed coat, embryonic cotyledons, and embryonic axis using Illumina sequencing. Overall design: Illumina sequencing of bisulfite-converted genomic DNA from three parts of an mid-maturation (B1) stage seed: seed coat (B1-SC), embryonic cotyledons (B1-COT), and embryonic axis (B1-AX).

种子由三个具有不同亲本起源的主要组分构成：种皮（seed coat）、胚（embryo）与胚乳（endosperm）。母本来源的种皮在种子发育过程中对其起到滋养与保护作用。与之相对，胚与胚乳均源自双受精事件：其中一枚精子与卵细胞结合形成二倍体合子，另一枚精子与中央细胞结合形成三倍体胚乳。种子的各个组分在发育过程中均执行独特的发育程序。目前仍不明确不同种子组分是否存在甲基化变化，若存在此类变化的话。为探究DNA甲基化在种子不同组分中的潜在作用，本研究利用Illumina测序技术，对成熟早期阶段种子的三个主要组分——种皮、胚胎子叶（embryonic cotyledons）与胚轴（embryonic axis）——的甲基化组（methylome）进行了表征分析。实验整体设计：对成熟中期（B1阶段）种子的三个组分——种皮（B1-SC）、胚胎子叶（B1-COT）与胚轴（B1-AX）的亚硫酸氢盐转化基因组DNA进行Illumina测序。