Panicum hallii: Genomics Enabled Perennial Grass Model

Panicum hallii is a C4 perennial grass adapted to a diversity of habitats and environmental gradients across the southwestern US.  Interest in developing genomic resources for P. hallii has been driven by its close relationship to the bioenergy crop switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). Much like upland and lowland ecotypes of switchgrass, there are two major ecotypes of P. hallii. P. hallii var. hallii is found in xeric habitats and var. filipes occurs primarily in coastal mesic habitats. The Juenger lab has used a variety of genetic and genomic tools to explore the genetic basis of this divergence, leveraging resources generated in collaboration with the DOE JGI.  In particular, the completion of the version 1 genome assembly opens to researchers a host of tools for exploring C4 perennial grass biology. Here, I briefly report on progress on the genome assembly, genetic mapping, and expression QTL studies to elucidate divergence and adaptation to drought in P. hallii.