Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (13)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bitonti, M. B.
Right arrow Articles by Innocenti, A. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bitonti, M. B.
Right arrow Articles by Innocenti, A. M.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Bitonti, M. B.
Right arrow Articles by Innocenti, A. M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol. 53, No. 371, pp. 1047-1054, May 2002
© 2002 Oxford University Press

Original Papers

Distinct nuclear organization, DNA methylation pattern and cytokinin distribution mark juvenile, juvenile-like and adult vegetative apical meristems in peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch)

Maria Beatrice Bitonti1 5, Radiana Cozza1, Adriana Chiappetta1, Donato Giannino2, Monica Ruffini Castiglione3, Walter Dewitte4, Domenico Mariotti2, Harry Van Onckelen4 and Anna Maria Innocenti1

1Dipartimento di Ecologia, Università della Calabria, I-87030 Arcavacata di Rende, (CS), Italy
2Istituto di Biochimica ed Ecofisiologia Vegetali, CNR, Via Salaria, Km 29,300, I-00016, Monterotondo Scalo, Roma, Italy
3Istituto di Mutagenesi e Differenziamento, CNR, Area della Ricerca, Via di S. Cataldo, I-56100 Pisa, Italy
4Laboratory for Plant Biochemistry and Physiology, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, B-2610 Antwerp, Belgium

Chromatin organization, nuclear DNA methylation and endogenous zeatin localization were investigated in shoot apical meristems (SAM) during juvenile and adult phases of peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch). The aim was to examine the extent to which these parameters could discriminate the juvenile and adult SAMs. Seedlings (juvenile, cannot flower), basal shoots (called juvenile-like, because they exhibit juvenile macroscopic traits) and apical shoots (competent to form flowers) of adult plants were chosen. Nuclear chromatin exhibited chromocentres that were peripherally distributed in SAMs of juvenile and juvenile-like shoots, but were diffusely spread in those of adult shoots. These patterns coincided with a peripheral labelling of DNA methylation in juvenile and juvenile-like meristem nuclei versus a diffuse labelling pattern in adult meristem nuclei. During vegetative growth (from March to June), the level of nuclear DNA methylation was higher in adult meristems than in juvenile and juvenile-like ones. The immunolocalization of zeatin in juvenile SAM was in the subapical region, but adult meristems exhibited a widespread localization or a signal confined within the boundaries of the central zone. The extent to which the acquisition of a strongly zonated pattern of these parameters as markers of floral competence in adult SAMs is discussed.

Key words: DNA methylation, peach, Prunus persica, shoot apical meristem, vegetative phases, zeatin.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant BiolHome page
X. ZHANG and S.E. JACOBSEN
Genetic Analyses of DNA Methyltransferases in Arabidopsis thaliana
Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol, January 1, 2006; 71(0): 439 - 447.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 J Exp BotHome page
D. Giannino, G. Mele, R. Cozza, L. Bruno, G. Testone, C. Ticconi, G. Frugis, M. B. Bitonti, A. M. Innocenti, and D. Mariotti
Isolation and characterization of a maintenance DNA-methyltransferase gene from peach (Prunus persica [L.] Batsch): transcript localization in vegetative and reproductive meristems of triple buds
J. Exp. Bot., December 1, 2003; 54(393): 2623 - 2633.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.