NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2012

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This action funds a National Plant Genome Initiative Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY 2012. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow to focus their studies in plant genomics with an emphasis on quantitative genetics, modern breeding approaches, and bioinformatics. The title of the research and training plan for this fellowship to Kathleen M. Greenham is "Computation analysis of global gene expression changes at the intersect of the circadian clock and the response to drought in the crop plant Brassica rapa". The host institution for the fellowship is Dartmouth College (New Hampshire) and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. C. Robertson McClung.The plant drought response includes numerous physiological and gene expression changes. The circadian clock regulates both the physiological and gene expression processes that respond to drought, as well as the magnitude of the response. Understanding the circadian regulation will enable us to modify this complex network of signaling events following water deficiency. In this project, global gene expression changes in response to drought, measured by RNAseq, will be determined in a population of Brassica rapa recombinant inbred lines (RILs) under water sufficient and deficient conditions. These results, along with previous measurements of period length, will be used to identify expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) contributing to the circadian regulation of water use efficiency. In addition, a network analysis will be used to uncover expression modules important for the drought response. The data will enhance the annotation and functional analysis of the Brassica genome and these analyses should be generally applicable in the translation from model organisms to important crop species.Training objectives include bioinformatics, quantitative genetics and plant genomics. Broader impacts include capacity-building and advanced training for students from the United States to engage in interdisciplinary research in plant improvement and associated sciences such as physiology, quantitative genetics, and computational biology. Outreach activities include participation in an existing educational outreach program that involves developing resources for enhancing K12 and undergraduate programs using B. rapa.