CAREER: The Adaptation of Plant Development to Environmental Stress

职业：植物发育对环境压力的适应

• 批准号: 0238529
• 负责人: Jocelyn Malamy
• 金额: $ 62.5万
• 依托单位: University of Chicago
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-02-01 至 2008-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0238529&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Adaptation; Plant; Development; Environmental

0238529MalamyPlant survival depends on adaptation to adverse conditions. Harnessing the plant's own complex machinery for adaptation to environment stresses has tremendous potential as a strategy for improvement of crop yields and extending the geographical range for crop growth. One plant adaptation mechanism is to optimize organ number and location in accordance with the availability and distribution of resources. Despite the importance of this developmental response, the molecular mechanisms that underlie morphological adaptation are essentially unknown. The Principal Investigator has found that the development of lateral roots in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana is dramatically repressed by mild drought stress, providing a model in which to study adaptation. To this end, her lab has isolated lateral root development (lrd) mutants that are defective in this response. Based on wild-type and mutant studies, they have defined the LRD pathway that directs root system adaptation. Key feature of the pathway are: (1) the plant hormones abscicic acid (ABA) and auxin (IAA) play critical opposing roles in mediating the pathway; (2) lrd mutants show aberrant phenotypes in several ABA-mediated responses, including a marked tolerance to dehydration; and (3) the ERECTA gene, which encodes a putative shoot-specific receptor protein kinase, plays an essential role in the osmotic repression of lateral root formation. Based on these findings, the researchers will characterize the function of the LRD and ERECTA genes in adaptation, and study the role of hormone accumulation and localization in the LRD pathway. The long-term goal of the project is to learn how to use a plant's innate ability to adjust to environmental stress for crop improvement. The Principal Investigator's interest in innovative approaches to solving the worldwide problem of food deficit has also led her to design a course to expose students to this complex problem. The course is designed to allow upper level undergraduates from many disciplines to become personally invested in issues of global importance such as famine and unequal distribution of food. Working with a multi-disciplinary team of instructors, students will learn about the biological, political and economic issues involved in world hunger and discuss possible solutions. A key part of this course will be the involvement of students in research projects conducted by the instructors, and the opportunity to continue this research beyond the scope of the class. Such early awareness and involvement in this global problem will hopefully influence students in their career choices, guiding them into areas which will generate further knowledge and progress in providing adequate food to afflicted areas.

0238529 Malamy植物的存活取决于对不利条件的适应。 利用植物自身的复杂机制来适应环境压力，作为提高作物产量和扩大作物生长地理范围的战略，具有巨大的潜力。 植物适应机制之一是根据资源的可用性和分布优化器官数量和位置。 尽管这种发育反应的重要性，形态适应的分子机制基本上是未知的。 主要研究者发现，模式植物拟南芥侧根的发育受到轻度干旱胁迫的显著抑制，为研究适应提供了一个模型。 为此，她的实验室已经分离出了侧根发育（lrd）突变体，这些突变体在这种反应中有缺陷。 基于野生型和突变体研究，他们已经确定了指导根系适应的LRD途径。 该途径的主要特征是：（1）植物激素花生酸（阿坝）和生长素（IAA）在介导该途径中起着关键的相反作用：（2）lrd突变体在ABA介导的几种反应中表现出异常的表型，包括显著的脱水耐受性;和（3）ERECTA基因，其编码推定的芽特异性受体蛋白激酶，在侧根形成的渗透抑制中起重要作用。 基于这些发现，研究人员将描述LRD和ERECTA基因在适应中的功能，并研究激素积累和定位在LRD途径中的作用。 该项目的长期目标是学习如何利用植物的先天能力来适应环境压力，以改善作物。 首席研究员对解决全球粮食短缺问题的创新方法的兴趣也使她设计了一门课程，让学生了解这个复杂的问题。 该课程的目的是让来自许多学科的高水平本科生成为个人投资于全球重要性的问题，如饥荒和粮食分配不均。 与多学科的教师团队合作，学生将了解世界饥饿所涉及的生物，政治和经济问题，并讨论可能的解决方案。 本课程的一个关键部分将是学生参与教师进行的研究项目，并有机会在课堂范围之外继续这项研究。 这种对这一全球性问题的早期认识和参与有望影响学生的职业选择，引导他们进入将在向受灾地区提供充足粮食方面产生进一步知识和进展的领域。