CAREER: The Mechanism and Genome-Wide Regulation of Genes and Transposable Elements by Epigenetically Active Small Interfering RNAs

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Intellectual Merit. Transposable elements (TEs) are mobile and can insert into genes, causing mutations. To guard against this mutagenic potential, organisms have evolved mechanisms to repress transcription of TEs. Recently the PI's laboratory has discovered that when TEs are transcriptionally activated in Arabidopsis plants, many of the TE transcripts are processed into large quantities of novel small RNAs that are termed epigenetically active small interfering RNAs (easiRNAs). These easiRNAs are hypothesized to be responsible for the initiation of silencing of active TEs, the establishment of epigenetic regulation in the form of DNA methylation, as well as production of large-scale transcriptomic changes. The major goal of this project is to explore how easiRNA biogenesis is triggered and to understand the multiple biological functions of easiRNA production. Investigation of these processes is critical for understanding how the genome maintains integrity and survives TE transcriptional activation, as well as how a cell can recognize what needs to be expressed (cellular genes) from what should be silenced (TEs). Moreover, easiRNA influence on multiple cellular functions may explain some important agricultural phenomena, and therefore it is fundamental to understand these mechanisms and which genes are affected.Broader Impacts. This project will support training and mentoring of undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral scientists. In addition, the project will include two independent activities designed to best integrate the PI's research, teaching, and diversity outreach components. First, the PI's current Young Scholars Program Biology Enhancement Workshop, which is taught to 7th grade students from the urban Columbus public school system, will be continued and leveraged to generate the Young Scholars Program Biology Internships. In this novel program middle school underrepresented minorities in STEM disciplines will be integrated into the PI?s laboratory and get real biology laboratory experience and advance biological discovery while engaged in training and learning exercises. Once the internship is completed, the student will automatically transition into a scientific mentoring program with the PI. This program will be expanded to include other PIs and will impact the community by providing a professional scientific research experience with extended mentoring to underrepresented students. Second, the PI will fully integrate the research in this project into an annual upper-division undergraduate laboratory course. With help from Course Design Institute of the Ohio State University Center for the Advancement of Teaching, the PI will integrate specific sub-aims from this project into the undergraduate laboratory curriculum and education. The original data produced from the course experiments will be published by the class in an undergraduate research journal and will be used directly by the PI. This course will leverage the Department of Molecular Genetics teaching infrastructure to teach and train undergraduate students molecular biology, while also exciting students about advancing scientific discovery.