The epigenome consists of multiple covalent histone modifications and nucleic acids that collectively regulate chromatin structure and gene expression. Epigenetic mechanisms mainly come from systems such as DNA methylation, histone modification, and RNA interference, and are becoming increasingly important in classical genetics, developmental biology, molecular biology, epidemiology, and evolution. Epigenetic mechanisms play an important role in the role and interactions of plant genes during development and have implications for classical plant breeding programs, including novel variation, single plant heritability, hybrid vigor, plant-environment interactions, stress tolerance, and performance stability. Advances in next-generation sequencing technologies, combined with classical biochemical methods, have led to innovations in many techniques for mapping epigenetic elements.

Fig. 1. Proposed schematic mechanism/process of epigenetics in chickpea. (Chandana et al., 2022)

Our agricultural epigenomic data analysis service

Bioinformatics or computational analysis has emerged as a useful approach for understanding epigenetic mechanisms and analyzing epigenomic data. CD Genomics is a leading company in the field of agricultural genomics research, providing comprehensive agricultural epigenomic data analysis services. Our workflow for analyzing sequencing-based epigenomic data involves identifying, annotating, and analyzing peaks or genomic regions with signals of interest. Our bioinformatics team has extensive experience in analyzing agricultural epigenomic data to drive crop improvement and increase agricultural productivity.

Our agricultural epigenomic data analysis covers all aspects of epigenomic research, including chromatin studies, methylation studies, exploratory analyses, differential peak analyses, transcription factor binding site analyses, comprehensive analyses of multi-omics data, and more. We ensure a comprehensive assessment of epigenetic marks present throughout the genome. We also perform comparative analyses of epigenomic profiles from different plant tissues, developmental stages, or different environmental conditions to help you identify differentially methylated regions and differentially modified histone marks. This information contributes to the understanding of the epigenetic basis of plant development, stress responses, and disease resistance mechanisms.

Our services can be applied to the following research areas

• Crop improvement and breeding. Our agricultural epigenomic data analysis can identify epigenetic marks for desirable traits, decipher epigenetic mechanisms, and enable breeders to develop targeted trait selection and manipulation strategies.
• Disease resistance and pathogen interactions. Our agricultural epigenomic data analysis can reveal epigenetic changes that occur during pathogen infection and subsequent plant defense responses.
• Environmental adaptation and stress responses. Our agricultural epigenomic data analysis can identify stress-responsive (including drought, salinity, and temperature fluctuations) epigenetic modifications, revealing regulatory networks that enable plants to adapt to unfavorable environmental conditions.

Our advantages and features

• Our team of highly skilled scientists and bioinformaticians are well versed in analyzing agricultural epigenomic data, ensuring the most accurate and insightful results for our clients.
• Our state-of-the-art sequencing platforms, coupled with advanced bioinformatics pipelines, enable us to generate accurate and reliable epigenomic profiles.
• Whether you need genome-wide DNA methylation analysis, histone modification analysis, or comparative epigenetic studies, we design customized experiments and analytical approaches that best suit your research goals.
• We provide an in-depth interpretation of epigenomic data, identifying key regulatory regions, differentially methylated regions, and epigenetic marks associated with specific traits.

CD Genomics provides comprehensive agricultural epigenomic data analysis services to accelerate crop improvement and promote sustainable agricultural practices. If you are interested, please feel free to contact us.

Reference

1. Chandana, B. S., et al. "Epigenomics as potential tools for enhancing magnitude of breeding approaches for developing climate resilient chickpea." Frontiers in Genetics. 13 (2022): 900253.