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

改良任何一种植物都需要大量的育种工作，包括研究人员、研发公司、育种公司和农民。大麻和大麻的育种目前远远落后于其他作物，这是不幸的，因为这种作物非常重要。英普兰塔生物技术公司是一家专注于大麻新品种的育种公司。该公司主要专注于大麻的药用特性，特别是其止痛和消炎特性。InPlanta对开发高含量大麻(CBD)的大麻植物感兴趣--这些植物在加拿大户外种植将是合法的，并将保持与CBD效果相关的药用特性。像InPlantaMeet这样的公司面临的问题是，在截然不同的环境中生长的植物表现不一致。我们的初步数据显示，生长在莱斯布里奇、维勒维尔和和平河三个不同环境中的大麻植物的表型有很大的差异。从法律角度来看，这一点尤其重要，因为只有THC水平低于0.3%的植物才能在室外接地。因此，该公司有兴趣确定导致这种变异的表观遗传因素。具体地说，该公司需要对他们在和平河、蔬菜和莱斯布里奇种植的几个大麻品种的甲基化情况进行分析。这一甲基化特征旨在作为下一步帮助InPlanta实现他们的目标，即培育出这种多态，并提供一种无论外部因素如何都具有可预测性能的产品。

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.