Genome-wide DNA methylation analysis of paulownia with phytoplasma infection

•A map of methylated cytosines at the single base pair resolution of paulownia was constructed.•The DNA methylation level of healthy seedlings increased after phytoplasma infection.•Topless-related protein 1 and R2R3-MYB protein were closely related to occurrence of PaWB. DNA methylation, an important epigenetic modification, regulates a wide range of biological processes. Previous MSAP results showed that the occurrence of PaWB related to changes of DNA methylation level; however, the relationship between DNA methylation and gene expression remains obscure in paulownia. Therefore, in the present study, we applied WGBS and RNA-seq techniques to investigate the DNA methylation and gene expression changes between healthy Paulownia fortunei seedlings and the phytoplasma-infected ones. A map of methylated cytosines at the single base pair resolution of paulownia was constructed. Compared to the healthy seedlings, the DNA methylation level increased after phytoplasma infection, and the change of mCHH was the main methylation pattern. DMR analysis showed that 422,662 DMRs in the genome were identified, in which, 27,871 DMR-associated genes were differentially expressed. Finally, 436 genes with significant differences in their methylation levels and mRNA expression profiles were identified through integrated analysis of the DNA methylomic and transcriptomic. KEGG pathway analysis revealed that these genes are mainly involved in plant hormone signal transduction, carbon metabolism, and starch and sucrose metabolism pathways. Two of DMR-associated genes were verified by BS- PCR. Finally, we selected TRP 1 and R2R3-MYB protein were closely related to the occurrence of PaWB. Our findings provide valuable insight into the mechanism of PaWB at the epigenetic level.