Quercus rubra
Background
As climate change alters soil water content worldwide, some plants must adapt to new, more dry conditions. As sessile organisms, plants cannot move to less arid environments, nor can they evolve their genomes slowly as climate change's effects are too rapid. The last option for plants is an epigenetic modification, where phenotypic changes occur without genomic alterations. Seeing these epigenetic modifications as crucial to plants' future survival, Lisman Labs has been researching drought-related DNA methylation––a type of epigenetic modification––with single base-pair resolution in two populations of Quercus rubra (red oak trees) with differential water access over the past two years.
Experiment
In 2021, Lisman researchers collected samples of Quercus rubra from two populations with drastically different water access. DNA was extracted from the samples and sequenced by CD genomics using whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS). WGBS allowed researchers to not only sequence the entire genome but also to discern methylation at specific base pairs. In 2022, researchers meticulously combed through the data from CD genomics looking for differential methylation and related pathways in the two populations of Q. rubra. Also, new samples were collected, extracted, and sequenced in 2021 using the same trees.
Look here to see our DNA extraction protocol from 2021!