Polyploid plants are often larger than their diploid progenitors and can be more stress tolerant. Some of the world’s most important crops are polyploid. This project uses three small grasses with compact genomes and traits that make them easy to manipulate in the laboratory. Brachypodium hybridum is an allotetraploid formed by interspecifc hybridization between the diploid species B. distachyon and B. stacei. This project examines the role of DNA methylation and histone modification on gene expression and explores the role of repeated hybridization in shaping the B. hybridum genome.
Proposer: Pilar Catalan, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
Proposal: Genomic Characterization of the Brachypodium Polyploid Model to Unravel Bases of Success of Polyploidy in Flowering Plants