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Epigenetic processes including DNA methylation play a pivotal role in regulating the genes that control plant development. In contrast to in planta development, the contribution of DNA methylation to the morphogenic processes that are induced in vitro are much less recognised. Hence, in the present study, we analysed the impact of DNA methylation on somatic embryogenesis (SE) that was induced in Arabidopsis. The results demonstrated a decrease in the global DNA methylation level during SE that contrasted with the up-regulation of MET1 and CMT3 DNA methylases and the down-regulation of DNA demethylases (ROS1, DME and DML2). Hence, the global DNA methylation level appears not to correlate with the transcriptional activity of the genes encoding DNA methylases/demethylases, thereby implying the complexity of the regulatory mechanism that controls the DNA methylation status of the SE …