Epigenome wide association study for deciphering the role of methylation in phenotypic changes in hemp

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Improving any plant requires massive breeding effort involving researchers, R&D companies, breedingcompanies and farmers. Hemp and cannabis breeding is currently significantly behind other crops, which isunfortunate due the enormous importance of this crop. InPlanta Biotechnology is a breeding company with thefocus on generation of new hemp cultivars. Major focus of the company is medicinal property of hemp,especially its pain killing and anti-inflammatory properties. InPlanta is interested in the development of hempplants with high level of cannabinoids (CBD) - these plants will be legal to grow outdoor in Canada and wouldmaintain medicinal properties associated with the effects of CBD. The problem companies like InPlantaencounter is the inconsistent performance of plants grown in drastically different environments. Ourpreliminary data indicate substantial variations in phenotype of hemp plants grown in three differentenvironments, Lethbridge, Vegreville and Peace River. This is especially important from legal perspective,since only plants with THC levels under 0.3% can be ground outdoor. The company is interested therefore toidentify epigenetic factors responsible for such variations. Specifically, the company needs to perform theanalysis of methylation profile of several hemp varieties that they have grown in Peace River, Vegreville andLethbridge. This methylation profile is intended as the next step to assist InPlanta with their goals to breed outsuch polymorphisms and deliver a product that performs predictably regardless of external factors.