Identification of Brassinosteroid Target Genes by Chromatin Immunoprecipitation Followed by High-Throughput Sequencing (ChIP-seq) and RNA-Sequencing.

Brassinosteroids (BRs) play important roles in many growth and developmental processes. BRs signal to regulate BR-INSENSITIVE1-ETHYL METHANESULFONATE-SUPPRESSOR1 (BES1) and BRASSINAZOLE-RESISTANT1 (BZR1) transcription factors (TFs), which, in turn, regulate several hundreds of transcription factors (termed BES1/BZR1-targeted TFs or BTFs) and thousands of genes to mediate various BR responses. Chromatin Immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq) with BES1/BZR1 and BTFs is an important approach to identify BR target genes. In combination with RNA-sequencing experiments, these genomic methods have become powerful tools to detect BR target genes and reveal transcriptional networks underlying BR-regulated processes.