diff --git a/.github/.OwlBot.lock.yaml b/.github/.OwlBot.lock.yaml
index 64f82d6b..757c9dca 100644
--- a/.github/.OwlBot.lock.yaml
+++ b/.github/.OwlBot.lock.yaml
@@ -13,5 +13,5 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 docker:
   image: gcr.io/cloud-devrel-public-resources/owlbot-python:latest
-  digest: sha256:bc5eed3804aec2f05fad42aacf973821d9500c174015341f721a984a0825b6fd
-# created: 2022-04-21T15:43:16.246106921Z
+  digest: sha256:81ed5ecdfc7cac5b699ba4537376f3563f6f04122c4ec9e735d3b3dc1d43dd32
+# created: 2022-05-05T22:08:23.383410683Z
diff --git a/.github/auto-approve.yml b/.github/auto-approve.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..311ebbb8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/auto-approve.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# https://github.com/googleapis/repo-automation-bots/tree/main/packages/auto-approve
+processes:
+  - "OwlBotTemplateChanges"
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index bfebfa51..7ed6c616 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,14 @@
 
 [1]: https://pypi.org/project/google-api-core/#history
 
+## [2.8.0](https://github.com/googleapis/python-api-core/compare/v2.7.3...v2.8.0) (2022-05-18)
+
+
+### Features
+
+* adds support for audience in client_options ([#379](https://github.com/googleapis/python-api-core/issues/379)) ([c97c498](https://github.com/googleapis/python-api-core/commit/c97c4980125a86f384cdf12720df7bb1a2adf9d2))
+* adds support for audience in client_options. ([c97c498](https://github.com/googleapis/python-api-core/commit/c97c4980125a86f384cdf12720df7bb1a2adf9d2))
+
 ### [2.7.3](https://github.com/googleapis/python-api-core/compare/v2.7.2...v2.7.3) (2022-04-29)
 
 
diff --git a/google/api_core/client_options.py b/google/api_core/client_options.py
index 4a2a84a4..ee9f28a9 100644
--- a/google/api_core/client_options.py
+++ b/google/api_core/client_options.py
@@ -70,6 +70,11 @@ class ClientOptions(object):
         scopes (Optional[Sequence[str]]): OAuth access token override scopes.
         api_key (Optional[str]): Google API key. ``credentials_file`` and
             ``api_key`` are mutually exclusive.
+        api_audience (Optional[str]): The intended audience for the API calls
+            to the service that will be set when using certain 3rd party
+            authentication flows. Audience is typically a resource identifier.
+            If not set, the service endpoint value will be used as a default.
+            An example of a valid ``api_audience`` is: "https://language.googleapis.com".
 
     Raises:
         ValueError: If both ``client_cert_source`` and ``client_encrypted_cert_source``
@@ -85,6 +90,7 @@ def __init__(
         credentials_file=None,
         scopes=None,
         api_key=None,
+        api_audience=None,
     ):
         if client_cert_source and client_encrypted_cert_source:
             raise ValueError(
@@ -99,6 +105,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.credentials_file = credentials_file
         self.scopes = scopes
         self.api_key = api_key
+        self.api_audience = api_audience
 
     def __repr__(self):
         return "ClientOptions: " + repr(self.__dict__)
diff --git a/google/api_core/version.py b/google/api_core/version.py
index 138e01b3..0a9aecb3 100644
--- a/google/api_core/version.py
+++ b/google/api_core/version.py
@@ -12,4 +12,4 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-__version__ = "2.7.3"
+__version__ = "2.8.0"
diff --git a/scripts/readme-gen/readme_gen.py b/scripts/readme-gen/readme_gen.py
index d309d6e9..91b59676 100644
--- a/scripts/readme-gen/readme_gen.py
+++ b/scripts/readme-gen/readme_gen.py
@@ -28,7 +28,10 @@
 jinja_env = jinja2.Environment(
     trim_blocks=True,
     loader=jinja2.FileSystemLoader(
-        os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'templates'))))
+        os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "templates"))
+    ),
+    autoescape=True,
+)
 
 README_TMPL = jinja_env.get_template('README.tmpl.rst')
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_client_options.py b/tests/unit/test_client_options.py
index 334b8c1f..d56a1b3a 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_client_options.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_client_options.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ def test_constructor():
             "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform",
             "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform.read-only",
         ],
+        api_audience="foo2.googleapis.com",
     )
 
     assert options.api_endpoint == "foo.googleapis.com"
@@ -46,6 +47,7 @@ def test_constructor():
         "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform",
         "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform.read-only",
     ]
+    assert options.api_audience == "foo2.googleapis.com"
 
 
 def test_constructor_with_encrypted_cert_source():
@@ -114,6 +116,7 @@ def test_from_dict():
                 "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform",
                 "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform.read-only",
             ],
+            "api_audience": "foo2.googleapis.com",
         }
     )
 
@@ -126,6 +129,7 @@ def test_from_dict():
         "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform.read-only",
     ]
     assert options.api_key is None
+    assert options.api_audience == "foo2.googleapis.com"
 
 
 def test_from_dict_bad_argument():