Evolutionary Studies of the Heat Shock Response and Thermotolerance in Boechera: Transcriptomics, Physiology and Gene Evolution

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)资助的。本项目将研究四种岩白菜植物(十字花科，羊栖菜属)。这些植物原产于加利福尼亚州。这些物种中有两种生活在沙漠中，两种生活在海岸或山区。这些植物在暴露在高温下时生存和生长的能力不同。植物不能移开或避免高温胁迫，因此，耐高温胁迫的能力是植物的一个非常重要的特征。虽然对一些作物物种的热胁迫进行了研究，但对野生植物物种之间的耐热性差异知之甚少。这个项目将解决这个重要但仍在研究中的问题。为了全面了解岩芹植物对高温胁迫的反应，将进行光合作用速率和整个植物生长的研究。此外，还将检测耐热和热敏植物在胁迫前后的基因表达模式。通过研究对压力反应不同的物种之间的基因表达模式，研究人员将识别出提供对高温压力耐受性的新基因和蛋白质。除了加深我们对野生植物如何适应逆境的理解外，这项研究还将提供有助于理解作物物种如何获得对高温逆境的耐受性的信息。在这个项目中，许多学生(包括本科生和研究生)将接受现代科学方法的培训。将优先考虑家庭中第一个获得大学学位的学生和/或属于科学方面代表性不足的群体的学生。此外，一名博士后将在该项目期间接受培训，并将得到指导，以促进他或她的独立研究生涯。

"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)." This project will study four species of Rockcress plants (Brassicaceae family, Boechera genus). These plants are native to California. Two of these species live in deserts and two are found either on the coast or in the mountains. These plants differ in their ability to survive and grow when exposed to high temperatures. Plants cannot move away or avoid high temperature stress and therefore, the ability to survive high temperature stress is a very important trait for plants. While heat stress has been studied in some crop species very little is known of the differences in tolerance to stress among wild plant species. This project will address this important but yet under studied question. In order to obtain a full understanding of how Rockcress plants respond to high temperature stress studies will be conducted that will examine rates of photosynthesis, and overall plant growth. In addition, the gene expression patterns of both the heat-tolerant and heat-sensitive plants will be examined both before and after stress. By examining the patterns of gene expression among species that respond differently to stress the researchers will identify novel genes and proteins that provide tolerance to heat stress. In addition to deepening our understanding of how wild plants adapt to stress this research will also provide information that will assist in understanding how crop species may acquire tolerance to heat stress. During this project a wide range of students (both undergraduate and graduate) will be trained in modern scientific methods. Preference will be given to students that are the first in their families to attain a university degree and/or are members of groups that are under-represented in science. In addition, a post-doctoral fellow will be trained during this project and will be provided with mentoring to facilitate his or her independent research career.