The methylation status of DNA derived from potato plants recovered from slow growth

The in vitro conservation of potato using tissue culture medium supplemented with the growth retardant mannitol causes morphological changes in the propagated material. These culture conditions seem to have an affect on the DNA extracted from the regenerated plants, when it is digested by the methylation sensitive restriction enzymes Hpa II/Msp I and Eco RII/Bst NI, compared to the control material. In most of these plants, there appears to be preferential methylation of nuclear domains that contain Eco RII/Bst NI recognition sites in contrast to those that contain Hpa II/Msp I sites. The refractory nature of the isolated DNA to these restriction enzymes was attributed to hypermethylation of genomic DNA and the ribosomal RNA genes. These findings indicate that methylation of DNA sequences may be an adaptive response to conditions of high osmotic stress. The importance of these results for the conservation of potato germplasm and international exchange is discussed.