Assessing chromatin accessibility in maize using ATAC-seq

Background: Maize is an important crop that has a complex genome. A better understanding of maize chromatin architecture provides great opportunities for crop improvement, because chromatin accessibility influences gene expression, thereby affecting agricultural traits. The newly developed method for chromatin profiling, Assay for Transposase Accessible Chromatin with high-throughput sequencing (ATAC-seq), has been developed to investigate chromatin accessibility. Result: We adapt this method by testing parameters of several key steps and generate the first ATAC-seq protocol for maize. We demonstrate that purification of maize nuclei to eliminate organelles can be achieved without the need for cell sorting, and that only a standard bench-top centrifuge is required for sample preparation. Finally, our sequence analyses confirm that our protocol of ATAC-seq can be successfully used to assess the chromatin landscape in maize. Conclusion: The ATAC-seq provides a useful technique to study the chromatin accessibility. Given the parameters tested in our study, it can be a simple and practical method for maize and may be a foundation for similar studies in other crop species.