Understanding how genes are regulated is like deciphering the complex wiring behind a city’s power grid. Just as the flow of electricity controls when and where lights turn on or machines start humming, gene regulation determines when and where genes are activated to sustain life’s processes. 

Traditionally, mapping this intricate network of regulatory “switches” in plants at a large scale was akin to trying to chart every electrical connection in a sprawling metropolis — an overwhelming challenge due to technical limitations and the sheer complexity of plant genomes.

Now, with improvements to DNA Affinity Purification Sequencing (DAP-seq), these barriers are falling. As published in Nature Plants on July 15, researchers have developed multiplexed assays — experimental techniques that allow simultaneous measurement of multiple samples in a single experiment — and integrated these data with single-cell gene expression maps. Read more on the JGI website.