F-MSAP: A Practical System to Detect Methylation in Chicken Genome

By replacing radiation with fluorescent system in the technique of methylation sensitive amplified polymorphism (MSAP) and optimizing reaction conditions, a modified technique to detect DNA methylation called F-MSAP (fluorescent labeled methylation sensitive amplified polymorphism) was developed. In the present study, cytosine methylation patterns of genomic DNA were investigated in two inbred chickens and their F1 hybrids. Three types of methylation patterns were observed in each individual, namely fully methylated, hemi-methylated or not methylated types. The average incidence of methylation was approximately 40%. The percentage that the F1 hybrid individual inherits the methylation for any given sites from either/both parent amounted to 95%, while the percentage of altered methylation patterns in F1 individual was only 5%, including 14 increased and 12 decreased methylation types, demonstrating that F-MSAP was highly efficient for large-scale detection of cytosine methylation in chicken genome. Our technique can be further extended to other animals or plants with complex genome and rich in methylation polymorphism.