GROWING POPULATIONS AND AN INCREASINGLY VARIABLE CLIMATE ARE DRIVING THE NEED FOR IMPROVED CROP RESILIENCE AND PRODUCTIVITY. IN ADDITION TO THE GROWING NEED FOR A MORE SECURE FOOD CHAIN, THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF REDUCED YIELD AND CROP LOSS AS A RESULT OF ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSES ARE SIGNIFICANT AND WORSENING.THIS PROJECT WILL UTILIZE SEVERAL CUTTING-EDGE APPROACHES TO BETTER UNDERSTAND HOW PLANTS REGULATE GENE EXPRESSION CHANGES IN RESPONSE TO HEAT STRESS EVENTS. GENE REGULATION IS A HIGHLY COMPLEX PROCESS, WHERE SPECIFIC DNA SEQUENCES THAT DETERMINE THE ACTIVITY STATE OF A GENE MUST BE BOTH ACCESSIBLE AND ACTIVELY READ BY PROTEIN MACHINERY KNOWN AS TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS. TO DISENTANGLE THE COMPLEXITY OF THIS BIOLOGICAL PROCESS, THIS PROJECT WILL EXAMINE GENE EXPRESSION AND DNA ACCESSIBILITY IN RESPONSE TO HEAT STRESS. ADDITIONALLY, THIS PROJECT WILL GENERATE AN UNBIASED EVALUATION OF HOW WELL RANDOM FRAGMENTS OF GENOMIC DNA CAN DRIVE GENE EXPRESSION. BY FILTERING THESE RANDOM FRAGMENTS OF DNA FOR THOSE THAT ARE ACCESSIBLE AND ARE NEAR HEAT ACTIVATED GENES, WE WILL IDENTIFY DNA ELEMENTS THAT ARE LIKELY TO BE IMPORTANT FOR DRIVING GENE EXPRESSION CHANGES IN RESPONSE TO HEAT STRESS IN PLANTS. FINALLY, WE WILL LEVERAGE A DIVERSE POOL OF PLANTS TO IDENTIFY SPECIES WITH NATURAL VARIATION IN THESE IMPORTANT DNA ELEMENTS AND DETERMINE WHETHER THEY ARE MORE OR LESS RESPONSIVE TO HEAT STRESS EVENTS.THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TWO-FOLD: (1) THE DISCOVERY OF IMPORTANT GENETIC SEQUENCES THAT ARE PREDICTIVE OF HEAT STRESS RESPONSIVENESS, AND (2) THE IDENTIFICATION OF HEAT RESPONSIVE DNA ELEMENTS THAT CAN BE LEVERAGED FOR DESIGNING GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS. BOTH OF THESE GOALS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BETTER SECURE THE SUPPLY OF IMPORTANT CROP SPECIES AND THE ECONOMIC LIVELIHOOD OF THE FARMERS GROWING THEM.