NPGI: NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2013

该行动为2013财年的NSF国家植物基因组计划生物学博士后研究奖学金提供资金。该研究金支持研究员在东道实验室的研究和培训计划，研究员还提出了扩大生物学参与的计划。本次奖学金给朱莉托马斯的研究和培训计划的题目是“水稻耐旱基因的选择性剪接分析”。该奖学金的主办机构是阿肯色州大学，赞助科学家是安迪佩雷拉博士。选择性剪接从单个基因中形成多个转录本，这些转录本可以通过转录后加工产生功能转录本的非常快速的变化，以帮助植物对环境胁迫做出反应。本项目的主要目标是：1）利用RNA-Seq技术分析水稻对干旱胁迫响应的选择性剪接; 2）利用RNA-Seq技术和生物信息学的最新进展，鉴定胁迫响应的差异表达选择性剪接转录本;和，3）在水稻基因型多样性小组中评价可变剪接转录物，研究干旱胁迫反应表型或胁迫参数的关联。选择性剪接的耐旱性转录本可以作为分子育种的功能标记，培训目标包括生物信息学，作物基因组学，干旱生理学和分子育种方法。更广泛的影响包括提高在植物改良和相关科学，如生物信息学、生理学、基因组学和分子育种方面进行跨学科研究的能力。该项目还将解决气候变化的一个主要问题，即植物对干旱和其他非生物压力日益频繁的变化环境的反应。了解缺水如何影响作物产量将大大有助于提高作物对干旱的耐受力。

This action funds an NSF National Plant Genome Initiative Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2013. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow who also presents a plan to broaden participation in biology. The title of the research and training plan for this fellowship to Julie Thomas is "Analysis of Alternative Splicing in Drought Regulated Genes for Stress Tolerance in Rice". The host institution for the fellowship is the University of Arkansas and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. Andy Pereira.Alternative splicing forms multiple transcripts from individual genes that can generate very rapid changes in functional transcripts by post-transcriptional processing to help the plant respond to environmental stresses. The objectives of this project are: 1) analysis of alternative splicing in rice in response to drought stress using RNA-Seq; 2) new developments in RNA-Seq technology and Bioinformatics will be used to identify stress responsive differentially expressed alternatively spliced transcripts; and, 3) evaluation of alternatively spliced transcripts in a rice genotype diversity panel, to study the association to drought stress response phenotypes or stress parameters. Alternatively spliced transcripts that distinguish drought tolerance can be developed as functional markers for molecular breeding.Training objectives include bioinformatics, crop plant genomics, drought physiology, and molecular breeding approaches. Broader impacts include enhancement of the capacity for conducting interdisciplinary research in plant improvement and associated sciences such as bioinformatics, physiology, genomics and molecular breeding. The project will also address a major problem of climate change, the response of plants to changing environments in which drought and other abiotic stresses are becoming more frequent. An understanding of how water scarcity affects crop yields would be a major contribution towards making crops more tolerant to drought stress.