Switchgrass cv Summer Crown by 454
Panicum virgatum strain:cv Summer Transcriptome or Gene expression
Switchgrass is a key species being evaluated for use as a lignocellulosic bioenergy crop.  An essential trait for a perennial bioenergy plant such as switchgrass is the ability to regrow shoots (tillers) every year without having any significant winter kill.  Since this regrowth occurs from the below-ground crown and rhizome tissues understanding the molecular processes underpinning this yearly cycle of growth and dormancy are likely to provide insights into cellular factors that impact perenniality and winter hardiness.  In this study crown and rhizome tissues obtained from a switchgrass cultivar (cv Summer) that shows good winter hardiness were used as a source to obtain molecular information.  Messenger RNA were extracted from these tissues and analyzed on a next-generation DNA sequencer.  This instrument provided a very large number of sequences, which were subsequently annotated using tools in bioinformatics. These annotations made it possible to get a snap shot of the biological and metabolic status of the tissue.  Overall, our first of a kind data, can now serve as a foundation to explore changes occurring at the molecular level in below-ground tissues obtained from switchgrass plants with divergent responses to cold temperatures.  In the long-term these datasets will provide information that can be applied in breeding programs to improve this important bioenergy crop.