Cell-type Specific Networks in Brassica Guard Cell Responses to Drought

PI：June M.郭（马里兰州-学院公园大学）CoPI：莎拉M。Assmann（宾夕法尼亚州立大学），Joel S.巴德（约翰霍普金斯大学），约翰K. McKay（科罗拉多州立大学），Scott C. Peck（密苏里州-哥伦比亚大学）和Julian I.合作者：Gregory J. Hannon（冷泉港实验室/HHMI），Joachim Kopka（德国马克斯-普朗克分子植物生理学研究所），Robert A. Martienssen（冷泉港实验室）和Hong Gil Nam（韩国浦项科技大学）高级人员：Felix豪瑟（加州大学-圣地亚哥），Xiaofen Jin（宾夕法尼亚州立大学），Corban里维拉（约翰霍普金斯大学）和Florent Villiers（马里兰州大学-学院公园）干旱对农作物造成严重损害，导致产量重大损失。淡水资源短缺是21世纪世纪最重要的全球性问题之一。随着全球气温上升，降水量和分布的变化将增加。这将对全球淡水资源产生深远影响，其中65%以上用于农业。城市、工业和农业用户对水的竞争将加剧。开发更耐旱和水分利用效率更高的作物品种可以帮助解决这一问题，同时最大限度地减少干旱造成的作物损失，这是这项研究的最终应用。这一项目将侧重于油菜，油菜是一种重要的油料作物，既可供人类消费，也可生产生物柴油。在干旱条件下，陆地植物如油菜通过关闭叶片中的微孔来保持水分，水蒸气通过这些微孔流失。这些气孔中的每一个被称为气孔，并且每个气孔由一对保卫细胞包围，保卫细胞膨胀或收缩以调节气孔的大小。植物通过气孔损失90%以上的水分。在这个项目中，对甘蓝型油菜保卫细胞转录组、蛋白质和代谢物的分析以及基因组规模的人工microRNA文库将用于阐明保卫细胞信号传导和响应干旱和脱落酸（阿坝）调节的基因的网络，ABA是一种植物激素，它发出干旱的信号并介导抗旱性。这些数据集将进一步与下一代深度测序方法一起用于甘蓝型油菜双单倍体（DH）系中的数量性状基因座（QTL）的定位，其中已经鉴定了对干旱和气孔导度的敏感性的自然变异的QTL。综合分析这些信息所产生的模型将为提高作物水分利用效率和避免作物脱水提供蓝图。油菜的遗传分析和操作将用于确定网络组件和整株植物性能（产量）之间的因果关系。这些研究活动将产生一个新的“系统生物学”的观点，一个单一的植物细胞类型，可用于操作保卫细胞在开发实用的通用策略，提高各种作物品种的水分胁迫耐受性。每个网站将扩大这项研究的影响，涉及高中生和大学生从代表性不足的群体在项目中。每个实验室的本科生将参加一个关于植物科学和公共政策的新项目，该项目将在密苏里州大学举办，该项目将教育学生如何向公众传播研究成果。 该项目将提供广泛的指导，以准备博士后同事和学生未来的研究生涯。 所有数据集、协议和生物资源将通过项目网站（待定）和相关长期数据库向公众发布，这些数据库包括拟南芥生物资源中心（ABRC）、多国芸苔属基因组计划（http：www.Brassica.info）、基因表达综合数据库（GEO）、IntAct（http：//www.ebi.ac.uk/intact）和BioGRID（http：www.thebiogrid.org）。

PI: June M. Kwak (University of Maryland - College Park)CoPIs: Sarah M. Assmann (Pennsylvania State University), Joel S. Bader (Johns Hopkins University), John K. McKay (Colorado State University), Scott C. Peck (University of Missouri - Columbia), and Julian I. Schroeder (University of California, San Diego)Collaborators: Gregory J. Hannon (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory/HHMI), Joachim Kopka (Max-Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Germany), Robert A. Martienssen (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), and Hong Gil Nam (Pohang University of Science and Technology, South Korea)Senior Personnel: Felix Hauser (University of California - San Diego), Xiaofen Jin (Penn State University), Corban Rivera (Johns Hopkins University), and Florent Villiers (University of Maryland - College Park)Drought causes severe damage to crops, resulting in major losses in yield. Fresh water scarcity is one of the paramount global problems of the 21st century. As global temperatures rise, there will be increased variability in amounts and distribution of precipitation. This will result in profound impacts on global fresh water resources, over 65% of which are used for agriculture. There will be increased competition for water from municipal, industrial, and agricultural users. Development of more drought-tolerant and water use efficient crop varieties can help to address this situation while minimizing crop losses from drought, and is the ultimate application of this research. This project will focus on canola (Brassica napus), which is an important oilseed crop grown for both human consumption and biodiesel production. Under drought conditions, land plants such as canola retain water by closing microscopic pores in their leaves through which water vapor is lost. Each one of these pores is called a stomate, and each stomate is bordered by a pair of guard cells which swell or shrink to regulate the stomatal pore size. Plants lose over 90% of their water through the stomatal pores. In this project, analyses of guard cell transcriptomes, proteins and metabolites in Brassica napus and a genomic scale artificial microRNA library will be used to elucidate networks of guard cell signaling and genes regulated in response to drought and abscisic acid (ABA), the plant hormone that signals the presence of drought and mediates drought resistance. These data sets will further be used, together with next generation deep sequencing approaches, for mapping of quantitative trait loci (QTL) in Brassica napus double haploid (DH) lines in which QTL for natural variation in sensitivity to drought and stomatal conductance have been identified. Models generated from the integrative analysis of this information will provide a blueprint for improvement of water use efficiency and desiccation avoidance of crops. Genetic analyses and manipulations in canola will be used to define causal interactions among network components and whole plant performance (yield). These research activities will generate a new "systems biology" view of a single plant cell type that can be used to manipulate guard cells in development of practical universal strategies for improving water stress tolerance of a wide variety of crop species. Each site will broaden the impact of this research by involving high school students and undergraduates from under-represented groups in the project. Undergraduate students from each lab will participate in a new program on Plant Science and Public Policy to be hosted at the University of Missouri that will educate the students about communicating research findings to the general public. The project will provide extensive mentoring to prepare postdoctoral associates and students for future research careers. All data sets, protocols, and biological resources will be released to the public through a project website (to be determined) and through the relevant long-term data repositories that include the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center (ABRC), the Multinational Brassica Genome Project (http://www.Brassica.info), Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), IntAct (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/intact) and BioGRID (http://www.thebiogrid.org).