CAREER: Genetic Networks of Bract Suppression in Maize

由于玉米（玉米）是美国和世界范围内最重要和最具生产力的农业作物之一，因此对玉米叶发育的清楚了解可以为提高生产力的尝试提供信息。 然而，在了解叶子在生长的最早阶段是如何开始的方面，仍然存在着关键的差距。 在这个项目中，控制叶片启动的基因将通过调查玉米突变体来确定，这些突变体在生殖过渡后不能抑制叶片。 生殖叶（或苞片）抑制提出了一个有前途的手段，以确定基因在叶启动的最早阶段。 该项目将使用全基因组技术确定调控玉米苞片生长的基因网络。 由于苞片抑制已经进化了多次，这些结果也应该阐明发展机制的演变。 为了增加公众对进化机制的理解，该项目将开发新的课程和评估材料，旨在识别和解决与进化思维有关的误解。 具体而言，将制定一项评估，可以揭示与进化树有关的常见误解，未来的高中教师将接受培训，从进化框架出发教授生物多样性。 解释进化树的能力是生物学素养的关键，但高中教师很少教授必要的技能，而且往往对这些技能理解不足。 参与该项目的十名未来教师和一名生物教育研究生将获得科学性质的最先进培训，并有资格解决进化课程中的这个漏洞。

Since maize (corn) is one of the most important and productive agricultural crops both in the United States and world wide, a clear understanding of maize leaf development could inform attempts to improve productivity. Critical gaps, however, remain towards understanding how leaves initiate during the earliest stages of growth. In this project, genes that control leaf initiation will be identified by investigating maize mutants that fail to suppress leaves after the reproductive transition. Reproductive leaf (or bract) suppression presents a promising means to identify genes acting in the earliest stages of leaf initiation. The project will use genome-wide techniques identify the network of genes that are regulating maize bract outgrowth. Since bract suppression has evolved multiple times, these results should also shed light on the evolution of developmental mechanisms. In order to increase public understanding of evolutionary mechanisms, the project will develop novel curriculum and assessment materials designed identify and address misconception related to evolutionary thinking. Specifically, an assessment that can reveal common misconceptions related to evolutionary trees will be developed, and future high school teachers will be trained to teach biological diversity from an evolutionary framework. The ability to interpret evolutionary trees is key to biological literacy, but the necessary skills are rarely taught and often poorly understood by high school teachers. Ten future teachers and one biology education graduate student involved in this project will be given state of the art training in the nature of science and be uniquely qualified to address this hole in the evolution curriculum.