Researchers switchgrass can be adapted to expand its habitat range

In Texas, a collaborative team led by researchers at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin, the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology (HudsonAlpha), and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI), a DOE Office of Science User Facility, has discovered that the candidate bioenergy feedstock switchgrass has adapted to expand its habitat range.

Generating additional genomic resources for the 8X will provide a rare opportunity to assess the generality of a “ploidy hop,” when switchgrass (and by extension similar taxa) are faced with pronounced environmental fluctuations.

New findings from this line of research combined with past insights will allow the identification of potentially novel combinations of genetic diversity present in switchgrass that might be linked to climate adaptation and range expansion. This would subsequently represent a valuable breeding resource for expanding the range of suitable growing conditions and enhancing the resilience of switchgrass feedstock production.