Genome-Wide Analysis of DNA Cytosine Methylation in Two Poplars

DNA methylation is an important epigenetic modification that has been implicated in many biological processes. Methylation changes during stress responses and developmental processes have been well studied. Here, we present a novel comparison of methylation patterns in two poplar species. We detected the global methylation patterns in leaves of Populus trichocarpa and Populus euphratica by methylated DNA immune precipitation sequencing (MeDIPseq). A total of eleven significant modules were detected in the two species. Our results indicate that the methylation of CG/CHH/CHG contexts was much more significant in P. trichocarpa than in P. euphratica, but methylation changes in response to saline stress were consistent in both species.