Genome Plasticity and Physical Properties of the Brassica rapa Genome

Increased concern about climate stability and reduced land availability is placing more emphasis on the need to develop resilient crop plants that have an appropriate level of plasticity in response to variable or challenging environmental conditions. Brassica genomes provide useful models for understanding the contribution that complexity and extensive duplication may play in conferring phenotypic plasticity. We are currently exploring the extent to which patterns of epigenetic marks may differ between paralogous regions and genes in Brassica, and so contribute to differential gene regulation.  

We are initially focusing on the Brassica A genome and have re-sequenced and annotated the B. rapa var trilocularis genotype R-o-18. We are carrying out extensive high resolution bisulphite sequencing of the genome from different tissues, and will be exploring the dynamic behaviour of these in response to changes in mineral nutrition. In addition, we are carrying out a comparative analysis of the biophysical properties of paralogous regions of the genome to gain some insight into the extent to which chromatin dynamics may be under selection and able to be manipulated when targeted hypomethylation is adopted as a crop improvement strategy.