These results indicated that demethylation was selective in Line-2, and that promoter demethylation abolished the constitutive silencing of Xa21G due to hypermethylation, resulting in acquisition of disease resistance. Both hypomethylation and resistant trait were stably inherited. This is a clear example of epigenetic inheritance, and supports the idea of Lamarckian inheritance which suggested acquired traits to be heritable.
It is well known that DNA methylation is involved in the control of transposable elements in eukaryotic cells. Recent studies indicate that demethylation of DNA in a mutant of Chlamydomonas and Arabidopsis causes transcriptional activation and mobilization of transposons. In this report, transposition of a retrotransposon was investigated in the phytopathogenic fungus Fusarium oxysporum treated with 5-azacytidine (5azaC), a reagent that causes reduction in the DNA methylation level. The results showed elevated transposition frequency in 5azaC-treated isolates when they were incubated for a long time. However, increase of retrotransposon transcripts was not observed, suggesting that the retrotransposon was mobilized by a mechanism other than its transcriptional activation.
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