ChIP-Seq analysis of switchgrass transcriptome in response to single drought and combinations of drought and heat stress

The combined heat and drought stress influence the plant growth and development. Switchgrass is an economically important crop due to the availability of high biomass with little water and nutrient requirements. Earlier reports suggested that switchgrass growth and yield highly influenced by heat and drought. The mechanism behind heat and drought stress is not fully understood in switchgrass. This study has undertaken to analyze the epigenetic modification using ChIP-Seq analysis with the activation histone mark H3K4me3. Conclusion: Our study provides the first epigenomic analysis of heat and drought response in switchgrass. This comprehensive resource will provide other epigenomic regulated information in non-model plant species. Method: We conducted solely drought treatment in switchgrass plant Alamo AP13 by withholding water after 45 days of growing. For the combination of drought and heat effect, heat treatment (35 °C/25 °C day/night) was imposed after 72 h of the initiation of drought. Samples were collected at 0 h, 72 h, 96 h, 120 h, 144 h, and 168 h after treatment imposition, genomic DNAwas extracted, and ChIP-Seq conducted.