Chromatin regulatory mechanisms of stress tolerance in cereals

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Plants being sessile organisms are exposed to various environmental stresses, to which they react with a myriad of adaptive responses in order to survive. Stress conditions such as drought, salinity, light or extreme temperatures have been the subject of intense research, and rapidly accumulating data demonstrated that they regulate the expression of multiple genes. During the last two decades, it has become clear that gene transcription is under chromatin-mediated control, involving regulation processes such as DNA methylation, histone modifications, and chromatin remodeling. The establishment of these chromatin changes, throughout the action of specialized modifiers, alters the accessibility of genes to transcriptional regulatory proteins by modulating the local chromatin state to either an "open" (transcriptionally active) or "closed" (transcriptionally repressed) configuration. To date, only a few links between the regulation of stress response and chromatin dynamics have been identified in plants. Therefore, the long-term goal of our research program is to understand the chromatin regulatory mechanisms controlling abiotic stress tolerance in cereals. To achieve this goal, we will: 1) evaluate the cold hardiness of Brachypodium distachyon; 2) determine the landscape of epigenetic marks during cold hardening in Brachypodium; 3) identify and characterize chromatin modifiers modulating the response to low temperature in Brachypodium. The elucidation of chromatin-regulatory mechanisms in a complex system like cereals will have far-reaching implications for agriculture. The developed knowledge base will make the direct manipulation of multigenic traits such as stress tolerance amenable to breeding programs of crops and livestock. These strategies will provide practical tools for addressing the global challenges of changing climate and ever-increasing food and energy demands of a growing human population.