POWRE: Quantitative Trait Loci Controlling High Temperature Adaptation in Plants

该power奖支持的研究将使用定量性状位点（QTL）分析来了解模式植物拟南芥对高温的适应性。长期目标是：(1)鉴定参与植物在繁殖和生命周期其他阶段适应高温的基因；(2)验证热休克蛋白（heat shock protein, Hsp）结构或表达变异导致植物耐热性遗传变异的假设。尽管基因组测序取得了巨大的进展，为包括拟南芥在内的许多生物提供了完整的遗传蓝图，但只有5%的拟南芥基因具有确定的表型功能。因此，定义基因功能，特别是当它与植物表型相关时，仍然是一个主要的挑战。拟南芥的遗传变异为鉴定基因功能提供了一个未被充分利用的资源，现在可以通过QTL分析来获取。QTL分析允许对复杂性状进行遗传解剖，不仅是鉴定基因功能的重要新方法，也是检验长期存在的生态和遗传假设的重要新方法。拟议的研究将由P.I.作为休假研究在荷兰瓦赫宁根的Maarten Koornneef博士的实验室进行，她将在那里学习如何使用拟南芥进行QTL分析。将QTL分析应用于植物耐高温问题将是P.I.的一个重要的新的科学方向，这将极大地增强她的研究计划，符合POWRE计划的指导方针。休假的第二个目标是扩大和巩固与英国和荷兰其他团体的国际合作。特别地，pi将学习当前的计算机方法来模拟蛋白质的三维结构，然后使用这些方法来模拟植物小热蛋白家族的不同成员的结构。这项工作将与伦敦伯克贝克学院的Christine Slingsby博士合作进行。power的支持对于实现这一独特的职业机会，加强培训和国际合作至关重要。

Research supported by this POWRE award will use Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) analysis to understand plant adaptation to high temperature in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. The long-term goals are: (1) to identify genes involved in plant adaptation to high temperature during reproduction and other phases of the life cycle, and (2) to test the hypothesis that variation in heat-shock protein (Hsp) structure or expression contributes to genetic variability in plant heat tolerance. Although dramatic progress in genome sequencing has provided the complete genetic blueprint of many organisms, including Arabidopsis, only 5% of sequenced Arabidopsis genes have an established phenotypic function. Thus, defining gene function, particularly as it relates to plant phenotype, remains a major challenge. Genetic variation in Arabidopsis offers an underexploited resource for identifying gene function, which can now be accessed by QTL analysis. QTL analysis allows the genetic dissection of complex traits and is an important new approach not only to identifying gene function, but also for testing long-standing ecological and genetic hypotheses. The proposed studies will be initiated by the P.I. as sabbatical research in the laboratory of Dr. Maarten Koornneef in Wageningen, the Netherlands, where she will learn how to use Arabidopsis for QTL analysis. Application of QTL analysis to the problem of high-temperature tolerance in plants will represent a major new scientific direction for the P.I. that will greatly enhance her research program, in line with the guidelines of the POWRE program. A secondary goal of the sabbatical leave will be to expand and solidify international collaborations with other groups in the U.K. and the Netherlands. In particular, the P.I. will learn current computer methods for modeling the three-dimensional structure of proteins and then use these methods to model the structure of diverse members of the plant small-Hsp protein family. This work will be performed in collaboration with Dr. Christine Slingsby, Birkbeck College, London. POWRE support is essential to realize this unique career opportunity for enhanced training and international collaboration.