The aim of the p-epBAR project is to complement German and international efforts to analyze the barley pan genome with epigenetic and chromatin architecture information, thus making the genomic and epigenetic basis of gene regulation accessible as a fundamental knowledge base for breeding and research. p-epBAR will systematically collect data on chromatin accessibility, patterns of epi-genetic variation at the DNA and chromatin level, and chromatin conformation and put them into the context of gene expression, thus enabling functional annotation of the barley pan genome. For ten highly diverse barley genotypes from the ongoing Pan Genome Project (SHAPE I + II), data on seven histone modifications involved in the activation or inactivation of gene expression will be generated from the seedling stage by ChIPseq. The same material is used for sequencing open chromatin by ATAC-seq. Promoter-interacting sequence domains are identified by promoter capture Hi-C. For three of the ten genotypes, equivalent data are generated for two additional tissues. All newly obtained data will be integrated with existing DNA methylation and gene expression data obtained before the start of the project for the same genotypes and equivalent tissues.

The following results are expected for the barley pan-epigenome: 1) catalog of generegulatory sequences and epi-genomic modifications, 2) catalog of interacting gene-regulatory domains, 3) epi-genomic gene regulation associated with very large structural genome variations, 4) differential epigenomic genome variation correlated with structural variation, and main characteristics of barley vernalization requirement, etc.), 5) detection of bivalent histone modification in barley compared to wheat.