Identification of sugarcane gene networks and active genome regions associated to drought

Abstract

There is a growing environmental and economic importance of sugarcane. Brazil is nowadays the biggest sugarcane producer and also the main producer of sugar and ethanol. In order to maintain a growing sugar and alcohol market, it is expected to expand the sugarcane tillage area to regions with less favorable conditions, such as Brazil Midwest and Northeast regions. Thus, it is important to develop plants with tolerance to stresses, especially drought, as well as to associate this characteristic to high efficiency in ethanol production. Our laboratory is conducting the sugarcane genome sequencing, however, for breeding programs it is also necessary the functional characterization of the identified genes, the understanding of gene regulation and of the functions related to characteristics of agronomical interest. In this context, unveiling the complex sugarcane regulatory networks is a way to obtain information about the regulatory pathways and the possible consequences of its alteration. ChIP-Seq technology has been used in the study of DNA-proteins interactions and has great applicability in the study of transcriptional network regulation. This project aims to obtain a set of enriched genomic sequences in a precipitate of DNA associated to RNA polymerase II in parallel to the definition of a group of genes regulated by water deficit stress. In a long term, the goal of the project is to generate tools that will allow the scientific community to associate regulatory motifs with traits of agronomical interest.