Chromatin accessibility landscapes revealed the subgenome-divergent regulation networks during wheat grain development [ATAC-seq]

Development of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grain mainly depends on the processes of starch synthesis and storage protein accumulation, which are critical for grain yield and quality. However, the regulatory network underlying the transcriptional and physiological changes of grain development is still not clear. Here, we combined ATAC-seq and RNA-seq to discover the chromatin accessibility and gene expression dynamics during these processes. We found that the chromatin accessibility changes are tightly associated with differential expressions and the proportion of distal ACRs were increased gradually during grain development. Specific transcription factor (TF) binding sites were enriched at different stages, and were diversified among the 3 subgenomes. We further predicted the potential interactions between key TFs and genes related with starch and storage protein biosynthesis and found different copies of some key TFs played diversified roles. Overall, our findings have provided numerous resources and illustrated the regulatory network during wheat grain development, which would shed lights on the improvement of wheat yields and qualities. It is reported that the CRE variants are associated with many important agronomic traits. In this study, we unravelling the transcriptional network underlying wheat grain development by combing ATAC-seq (Assay for Transposase Accessible Chromatin sequencing) and RNA-seq with samples from a series of time points.