Uncovering Epigenetic Regulation of Growth in Douglas-fir: Identification of Differential Methylation Regions in Mega-sized Long Intron Genes

In this study, we utilized a 44-year-old provenance trial of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) in Central Europe, which included separate entries for two different seed harvest years of the same provenances. We investigated the DNA methylation patterns in Douglas-fir trees with contrasting growth characteristics and identified differential methylation regions associated with these traits using epigenetic ddRAD sequencing.