Analysis of the expression pattern of the defensin gene in the lepidopteran Mamestra brassicae

Southern blotting experiments performed on Mamestra brassicae genomic DNA after digestion with methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes indicated that defensin gene is methylated at CpG targets in the promoter region. However, defensin gene is actively transcribed despite the presence of methylati...

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Main Authors: F Borsatti, L Casarini, M Mandrioli
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Modena and Reggio Emilia 2004-06-01
Series:Invertebrate Survival Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://isj02.unimore.it/index.php/ISJ/article/view/91
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spelling doaj-6675377af262465d979b612286b3cfeb2020-12-02T18:29:06ZengUniversity of Modena and Reggio EmiliaInvertebrate Survival Journal1824-307X2004-06-0111Analysis of the expression pattern of the defensin gene in the lepidopteran Mamestra brassicaeF Borsatti0L Casarini1M Mandrioli2Department of Animal Biology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, ItalyDepartment of Animal Biology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, ItalyDepartment of Animal Biology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy Southern blotting experiments performed on Mamestra brassicae genomic DNA after digestion with methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes indicated that defensin gene is methylated at CpG targets in the promoter region. However, defensin gene is actively transcribed despite the presence of methylation. Experiments performed by genome demethylation indicated that demethylated defensin gene resulted in an altered expression after bacterial induction. In particular, no increase in gene expression was observed after induction with Gram positive bacteria if defensin gene was demethylated. The present results are intriguing since they indicate that in M. brassicae DNA methylation is not involved in gene silencing, but also that DNA methylation could be essential to assure the expression of specific genes. On the whole, data here presented argue against an unifying and evolutionary conserved role of cytosine methylation from invertebrates to vertebrates. https://isj02.unimore.it/index.php/ISJ/article/view/91epigeneticsDNA methylationdefensin gene expressionlepidopteran
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author F Borsatti
L Casarini
M Mandrioli
spellingShingle F Borsatti
L Casarini
M Mandrioli
Analysis of the expression pattern of the defensin gene in the lepidopteran Mamestra brassicae
Invertebrate Survival Journal
epigenetics
DNA methylation
defensin gene expression
lepidopteran
author_facet F Borsatti
L Casarini
M Mandrioli
author_sort F Borsatti
title Analysis of the expression pattern of the defensin gene in the lepidopteran Mamestra brassicae
title_short Analysis of the expression pattern of the defensin gene in the lepidopteran Mamestra brassicae
title_full Analysis of the expression pattern of the defensin gene in the lepidopteran Mamestra brassicae
title_fullStr Analysis of the expression pattern of the defensin gene in the lepidopteran Mamestra brassicae
title_full_unstemmed Analysis of the expression pattern of the defensin gene in the lepidopteran Mamestra brassicae
title_sort analysis of the expression pattern of the defensin gene in the lepidopteran mamestra brassicae
publisher University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
series Invertebrate Survival Journal
issn 1824-307X
publishDate 2004-06-01
description Southern blotting experiments performed on Mamestra brassicae genomic DNA after digestion with methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes indicated that defensin gene is methylated at CpG targets in the promoter region. However, defensin gene is actively transcribed despite the presence of methylation. Experiments performed by genome demethylation indicated that demethylated defensin gene resulted in an altered expression after bacterial induction. In particular, no increase in gene expression was observed after induction with Gram positive bacteria if defensin gene was demethylated. The present results are intriguing since they indicate that in M. brassicae DNA methylation is not involved in gene silencing, but also that DNA methylation could be essential to assure the expression of specific genes. On the whole, data here presented argue against an unifying and evolutionary conserved role of cytosine methylation from invertebrates to vertebrates.
topic epigenetics
DNA methylation
defensin gene expression
lepidopteran
url https://isj02.unimore.it/index.php/ISJ/article/view/91
work_keys_str_mv AT fborsatti analysisoftheexpressionpatternofthedefensingeneinthelepidopteranmamestrabrassicae
AT lcasarini analysisoftheexpressionpatternofthedefensingeneinthelepidopteranmamestrabrassicae
AT mmandrioli analysisoftheexpressionpatternofthedefensingeneinthelepidopteranmamestrabrassicae
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