DNA Methylation Analysis of Buds from Two Peach Varieties with Distinct Chilling Requirements During the Dormancy Induction Period.

In peach production, the chilling requirement (CR) of cultivars has emerged as one of the most important limiting factors. DNA methylation plays an important role in regulating plant growth and development, environmental adaptation, and phenotypic establishment. However, the influence of DNA methylation on the CR of peach cultivars remains unclear. This study performed whole-genome methylation sequencing and transcriptome sequencing on two peach cultivars with distinct CRs and conducted an integrated analysis. The results revealed substantial differences between the two cultivars in methylation of the PpDAM5/6 promoters, which are associated with key genes governing peach CR, and in the expression of key DNA methylation enzyme genes. These results suggest that the expression of key genes associated with CRs in peach may be affected by DNA methylation. These findings provide a new research perspective for the study of CRs in peach.