DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Molecular Genetic Mechanisms Accounting for Patterns of Tolerance to Apical Meristem Damage in Wild Populations of Arabidopsis Thaliana

论文研究：拟南芥野生种群顶端分生组织损伤耐受模式的分子遗传机制

• 批准号: 0608232
• 负责人: Massimo Pigliucci
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Stony Brook
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-06-01 至 2008-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0608232&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Molecular; Genetic; Mechanisms

Recently, evidence has been accumulating that plants can sometimes effectively cope with damage to the flowering stalks caused by herbivore browsing (apical meristem damage, AMD), by replacing the damaged flowering stalks with new ones (tolerance). Consequently there is much interest in understanding the genetic mechanisms that afford plants this ability. This study will use genome-wide gene expression data, and single-gene mutant studies, to identify genetic pathways involved in tolerance responses of natural accessions of the weed Arabidopsis thaliana, a species native of Europe and used as a model system in genetics and ecology. This work will uncover genes associated with the already known fact that plants from the Netherlands are very tolerant to AMD at high nutrient levels and very intolerant at low nutrient levels, whereas those from Sweden are intolerant to AMD regardless of nutrient levels.Arabidopsis thaliana is very well studied at the molecular level, so there is the potential to connect findings from this work to other aspects of the physiology and biochemistry of this plant. Furthermore, since A. thaliana is a relative of important crops, such as broccoli and the canola plant, this project can have agricultural implications. This work directly impacts the scientific community in that it has already attracted 14 undergraduate research assistants, including nine women and four minorities, and will continue to involve them in most aspects of the project.

最近，越来越多的证据表明，植物有时可以通过用新的花茎替换受损的花茎来有效地应对食草动物取食造成的花茎损伤(顶端分生组织损伤，AMD)。因此，人们对了解赋予植物这种能力的遗传机制很感兴趣。这项研究将使用全基因组基因表达数据和单基因突变研究，以确定与天然杂草拟南芥耐性反应有关的遗传途径。拟南芥是一种原产于欧洲的物种，被用作遗传学和生态学的模式系统。这项工作将揭示与已知的事实相关的基因，即荷兰的植物在高营养水平下对AMD非常耐受，在低营养水平下非常不耐受，而来自瑞典的植物无论营养水平如何都不能耐受AMD。拟南芥在分子水平上得到了很好的研究，因此有可能将这项工作的结果与这种植物的生理和生化的其他方面联系起来。此外，由于A.thaliana是花椰菜和油菜籽等重要作物的近亲，该项目可能会对农业产生影响。这项工作直接影响到科学界，因为它已经吸引了14名本科生研究助理，其中包括9名妇女和4名少数民族，并将继续让她们参与该项目的大部分方面。