The mammalian ENCODE (ENCyclopedia of DNA Elements) project funded by the NIH has sought to define the features and elements of chromatin, genes, RNAs and proteins that determine phenotype. Most ENCODE modules have focused on chromatin and DNA elements that regulate transcriptional activity. There has not been a plant “ENCODE” project. Yet the regulation of gene activity in plants is as complex as other multicellular eukaryotes. Knowledge of plant gene regulatory networks is relevant to manipulation of traits that ensure crop fertility, productivity and survival in highly variable environments. My group has developed technologies that enable molecular dissection of plant gene regulatory across scales of regulation (chromatin, transcriptional, post-transcriptional including translational) as well as in specific cell types of organs (root, shoot, flower) and zones of development (stem, dividing, and differentiated cells) of a plant. The goal of my presentation will be to (1) describe technologies that we have developed and employed that define dynamics in different scales of regulation; (2) present an example of our multi-scale data from our PLASTICITY Project that spans from chromatin to mRNA translation and illustrates the dynamic responsiveness of plant cells/zones to their surroundings, and (3) share some of the challenges and opportunities of our “big data” sets.

Prof. Julia Bailey-Serres