Correlation between DNA methylation and chronological age of Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys heterocycla var. pubescens)

BACKGROUND: Chronological age is the primary consideration when studying the physiological development, aging, and flowering of bamboo. However, it’s difficult to determine bamboo’s chronological age if the time of germination is unknown. To investigate the chronological age of bamboo from the genomic DNA methylation profile, methylation-sensitive amplification polymorphism (MSAP) was employed to analyze the genomic DNA methylation of Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys heterocycla var. pubescens) from stands of nine germination-ages, using six primer pairs which have previously been shown to yield methylation rates that reflect the age of Moso bamboo. RESULTS: The results showed that the total genomic DNA methylation rates in Moso bamboo at different chronological ages were significantly different, and the increase in genomic DNA methylation rate was consistent with the increase of chronological age. Six primer pairs displayed different genomic DNA methylation rates in Moso bamboo of nine age’s group; however, a significantly positive correlation existed among these primer pairs. An integrated index was obtained by performing principal component analysis on the six primer pairs to represent the genomic DNA methylation levels in Moso bamboo of various chronological ages, and a quadratic curve between the chronological age and genomic DNA methylation levels was obtained. CONCLUSIONS: Such a relationship between DNA methylation and its chronological age may serve a reference for its aging study in Moso bamboo. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1999-3110-55-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.