U.S.-Mexico Cooperative Research: Effects of Glutamine Sythetase Null Mutations on Growth, Nodulations and N2 Fixation in Alfalfa

该奖项将支持新墨西哥州立大学(NMSU)的Champa Sengupta-Gopalan教授与墨西哥库埃纳瓦卡氮素固定研究中心的Georgina Hernandez教授进行研究合作。这项研究的主要目的是确定紫花苜蓿根际土壤微生物P.syringae PV侵染后，其根际结瘤增加、总固氮量增加和生长增加的分子和生化基础。塔巴奇。紫花苜蓿是墨西哥和美国的主要饲料作物，很好地适应了两国的干旱和灌溉农业。对影响共生固氮的确切机制的了解将有助于开发提高固氮能力的基因工程紫花苜蓿。在这项研究中，将在NMSU和Cuernavaca制造各种基因结构，并在这两个实验室进行结瘤生物学。此外，突变植物的所有生化特征都将在洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室完成。

This award will support Professor Champa Sengupta-Gopalan of New Mexico State University (NMSU) in a research collaboration with Professor Georgina Hernandez of the Nitrogen Fixation Research Center in Cuernavaca, Mexico. The main objective of the research is to determine the molecular and biochemical basis for the increased nodulation, elevated overall N2 fixation, and increased growth of alfalfa plants whose rhizospere is infested with the soil micro-organism P. syringae pv. tabaci. Alfalfa is a major forage crop in both Mexico and the U.S. and is well adapted to arid and irrigated agriculture in both nations. An understanding of the exact mechanisms that influence symbiotic nitrogen fixation will allow the development of genetically engineered alfalfa plants for increased N2 fixation capability. For this research, various gene constructs will be made at NMSU and Cuernavaca, and the nodulation biology will be performed at both laboratories. In addition, all the biochemical characterization of the mutant plants will be done at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.