ChARomics started on 01.04.2023 as a two-year project funded by the Bulgarian National Science Fund (BNSF) ‘s “Petar Beron i NIE” program.

 

Agricultural production has dwindled globally due to various abiotic and biotic stress conditions, especially high temperature (HT) induced stress. The European region experienced a maximum temperature rise in 2020 (and also for most of the 2000–2020 period), with 3.4 °C, followed by Asia (1.6 °C), Oceania (1.4 °C), the Americas, and Africa (1.3 °C). The above temperature alteration-induced HT stress resulted in a niche shift and decreased flowering plant population. Moreover, this extended HT stress can potentially lead to the extinction of sensitive and rare plant species from their natural habitats, e.g. coffee, peaches, and almonds. We know plants’ molecular machinery includes genetic and epigenetic factors to help them adapt to stressors. Epigenetics involves heritable changes in gene expression patterns triggered by environmental stress. Unlike higher vertebrates, plants possess stress memory instead of an immune system, which carries information related to stress and tolerance. A good example is stress-induced changes in histone modification, which can persist and impact offspring. This allows plants to “remember” stress experiences and adapt more effectively. Therefore, the transfer of the stress memory from the parent helps the progeny to be pre-programmed for the stressors during their life cycle.

      

The plant genome undergoes fine-tuning of its chromatin architecture to accommodate specific stress-induced patterns by forming chromatin-RNA-protein (ChRP) complexes. Both coding and non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) have been associated with forming ChRP complexes. These ncRNAs play a significant role in modulating multi-layered gene expression for plant growth, development, and stress responses. In particular, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) can act independently or cooperate with chromatin to achieve long-lasting effects necessary for cellular memory and transgenerational inheritance.

The project ChARomics aims to decipher HT stress-induced transgenerational thermomemory in Arabidopsis. During the project, the appearance of the same or enhanced stress response will be used to dissect the thermomemory-induced regulation of chromatin interactions with ncRNA through Chromatin-specific sequencing i.e. ChAR-seq. Due to the correlation that exists between the chromosomal architecture and epigenetic landscape in plants, the ChAR-seq method is the most plausible and novel approach to study thermomemory and investigate the thermal stress amelioration mechanisms in Arabidopsis. The data generated through this project will be crucial for elucidating the role of specific chromatin-RNA interactions in regulating gene expression essential for HT tolerance, thus they will be of both fundamental and practical significance.

Dr. Smita Kumar, an experienced plant biologist, has gained expertise in plant abiotic stress and molecular physiology, particularly in heavy metal toxicity and nutritional deficiency. She completed her PhD at the Department of Biochemistry, Banaras Hindu University, India and has explored various mechanisms involved in plant abiotic stress amelioration. She received many National and International Awards and medals during her PhD and post-doctoral period due to her scientific contributions and socially relevant research topics. Apart from the topics mentioned earlier, she has also worked on investigating the floral transition mechanism under combined heavy metal and nutrient-deficient conditions. Currently, she is focused on developing heat stress-tolerant crop varieties to ensure global food sustainability.