Regulation of Early Endosperm Development in Maize

_**PI：拉明雅德加里（亚利桑那大学）CoPI：艾米·克洛尔（佛罗里达新学院），乔安妮·丹尼霍夫（中密歇根大学），加里·德鲁（犹他州大学）和布赖恩·拉金斯（内布拉斯加大学）本研究项目的目标是了解控制玉米胚乳发育和功能的基因网络。种子的胚乳在生物学和经济学上都很重要。人类饮食中超过50%的热量来自谷物胚乳，它也是制造许多工业产品的原材料。玉米中的早期胚乳发育，授粉后0至8天的时期，包括胚乳从单细胞生长成由不同细胞类型组成的多细胞结构的时间。虽然控制玉米发育这一时期的分子机制尚未阐明，但它们可能影响许多重要过程，包括胚营养、籽粒灌浆期间淀粉和贮藏蛋白的积累以及种子成熟。在这个项目中，玉米转录因子在胚乳发育早期表达的网络将被确定，并确定其时间和空间表达模式。这些基因的一个子集的功能将在玉米和拟南芥植物中表征。此外，早期胚乳发育的细胞学模式将被描述在一个不同的玉米自交系。这些自交系目前正在遗传和表型特征的大量实验室，这些数据将使人们有可能评估的重要性，所确定的基因的各种谷物品质性状。这一项目的更广泛的教育影响将通过继续指导本科生和研究生以及培训博士后研究人员，加强所有参与机构的研究和培训基础设施。拟议研究的一个重要组成部分将涉及主要（中密歇根大学CMU）或专门（佛罗里达NCF新学院）本科生人口的机构的教师。来自CMU和NCF的学生研究人员将有机会每年在亚利桑那大学和犹他州大学度过一个夏天，接受进一步的培训和教育。本科研究人员将从教室，当地社区学院和所有机构的代表性不足的学生群体中招募。此外，该项目的一个重要目标是增加在科学领域代表性不足的少数群体的代表性，并通过与K-12教师和非科学家的外联来传播科学。该项目的科学和教育成果将通过项目网站http://cals.arizona.edu/earlyendosperm和Gramene（http：//www.gramene.org/）传播。

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________***PI: Ramin Yadegari (University of Arizona) CoPIs: Amy Clore (New College of Florida), Joanne Dannehoffer (Central Michigan University), Gary Drews (University of Utah) and Brian Larkins (University of Nebraska)The goal of this research project is to understand the gene networks that control endosperm development and function in maize. The endosperm of the seed is biologically and economically important. More than 50% of the calories in the human diet originate from cereal endosperm, which also serves as a raw material for manufacturing numerous industrial products. Early endosperm development in maize, the period between 0 and 8 days after pollination, encompasses the time when the endosperm grows from a single cell into a multicellular structure composed of different cell types. Although the molecular mechanisms that control this period of development in maize have not been elucidated, they are likely to affect many important processes, including embryo nutrition, starch and storage protein accumulation during grain filling, and seed maturation. In this project a network of maize transcription factors expressed during early endosperm development will be identified, and their temporal and spatial expression patterns will be determined. The function of a subset of these genes will be characterized in maize and Arabidopsis plants. In addition, the cytological patterns of early endosperm development will be described in a diverse set of maize inbred lines. These inbreds are currently being genetically and phenotypically characterized by a large number of laboratories, and these data will make it possible to evaluate the importance of the identified genes to a variety of grain quality traits. The broader educational impacts of this project will enhance the infrastructure of research and training at all the participating institutions through the continued instruction of undergraduate and graduate students and training of postdoctoral researchers. A significant component of the proposed research will involve faculty members at institutions with predominately (Central Michigan University CMU) or exclusively (New College of Florida NCF) undergraduate populations. Student researchers from CMU and NCF will have an opportunity to spend a summer each year at the University of Arizona and the University of Utah for further training and education. Undergraduate researchers will be recruited from the classroom, local community colleges, and underrepresented student populations at all institutions. In addition, an important goal of the project is to increase the representation of underrepresented minorities in science and to communicate science through outreach to K-12 teachers and to nonscientists. The scientific and educational outcomes of this project will be disseminated through the project website http://cals.arizona.edu/earlyendosperm and Gramene (http://www.gramene.org/).