MSAP marker based DNA methylation study in Salicornia brachiata DREB2A transgenic tobacco

DNA methylation plays an important role in gene regulation during growth, development and different stresses. We have studied the effect of transgene induced DNA methylation pattern in SbDREB2A overexpressed tobacco transgenic lines. DREB (Dehydration-responsive element binding) transcription factor (TF) plays a vital role in providing stress tolerance in ABA-independent manner by regulating downstream genes in plants. An increase in percent methylation was observed in the transgenic lines as compared to wild type (WT) and plants transformed with vector alone (VA). Among the three transgenic lines, S-201 showed maximum methylation and methylation polymorphism, whereas, the demethylation pattern was observed almost similar for all the transgenic lines. This indicates that DREB gene might be involved during methylation events in transgenic plants by regulating certain regions of the plant genome that plays important role during stress conditions.