Epigenetic Control of Drought Response in Sorghum (EPICON)
- University of California Berkeley; UC Berkeley; UC Berkeley; UC Berkeley
- USDA ARS Plant Gene Expression Center
- University of California Berkeley
- USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- University of California Ag and Natural Resources
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Genetic manipulation of crops to increase the presence of desirable traits has been critical to increasing agricultural productivity. These changes have primarily involved modification of the plant’s DNA sequence. However, there is increasing evidence that environmental responses are also mediated by epigenetics, which involves heritable changes without changes in DNA sequence. Epigenetic changes have been shown to play a major role in regulating plant responses to drought, an increasing problem worldwide due to climate change. In general, exposure of plants to water limitation triggers epigenetic changes, which include remodeling of chromatin, the network of DNA, RNA and various proteins making up chromosomes, and related changes in regulatory mechanisms. EPICON’s efforts focus on unraveling the role epigenetic signals play in acclimation to and recovery from drought through effects on individual transcription factors or transcriptional networks that direct entire metabolic pathways. To achieve this goal we will follow responses to water deprivation in sorghum, a widely cultivated cereal with recognized drought tolerance. In EPICON’s field trials, sorghum will be grown under controlled irrigation conditions. Leaf and root samples will be taken to perform molecular phenotyping to track changes in epigenetic, transcriptomic, metabolomic and proteomic footprints. Analysis of this data will provide a better understanding of the epigenetic processes related to drought tolerance, leading to our ultimate goal of identifying transcriptional regulators and pathways controlling drought resistance. The identified genetic targets and their regulatory pathways will be used in future efforts to improve growth of sorghum and other crops in the field and in marginal lands under water-limiting conditions.
- Research Organization:
- UC Berkeley
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0014081
- OSTI ID:
- 1832759
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-UCB-0014-1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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