Joint NSF/ERA-CAPS: Mechanisms of Natural Variation in Maize Herbivore Resistance

NSF/ERA-CAPS 联合研究：玉米食草动物抗性自然变异的机制

• 批准号: 1339237
• 负责人: Georg Jander
• 金额: $ 65.06万
• 依托单位: Boyce Thompson Institute Plant Research
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-04-15 至 2018-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1339237&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Joint; NSF; ERA; CAPS; Mechanisms

PI: Georg Jander (Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research)Senior Personnel: Tiffany Fleming (Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research)ERA-CAPS collaborators: Matthias Erb (University of Bern, Switzerland), Monika Frey (Technical University of Munich, Germany), Inge Fomsgaard (Aarhus University, Denmark), and Jurriaan Ton (University of Sheffield, United Kingdom)Maize (Zea mays), the world's most productive grain crop, is attacked by more than 90 species of insect herbivores. Although there is wide variation in maize resistance to herbivory, very little is known about the underlying genetic basis of these differences among maize cultivars. Genetic mapping, transcript profiling, insect bioassays, and biochemical approaches will be used to identify maize herbivore resistance genes. A particular focus area of this project will be the identification of biosynthetic and regulatory genes contributing to the production and transport of benzoxazinoids, a class of secondary metabolites with important defensive functions in maize, wheat, rye, wild barley, and other grasses. Research involving maize benzoxazinoid metabolism will provide a tractable model system for studying these agriculturally and ecologically important plant metabolites. Genetic mapping using a panel of diverse maize inbred lines will identify novel genes contributing to aphid and caterpillar resistance. Given the wide array of pests and pathogens against which maize plants protect themselves, there are likely to be interactions among the identified defense pathways. Defensive synergies and tradeoffs will be detected by comparing the genomic locations and biochemical functions of the identified maize genes that contribute to natural variation in herbivore resistance. This project will lead to the identification of previously unknown maize genes that influence plant-herbivore interactions. Potential metabolic limitations and tradeoffs in maize defense against different classes of insect herbivores will be documented. It is anticipated that these expected results will open up new opportunities for using molecular breeding and transgenic approaches to improve herbivore resistance in maize, the most important agricultural crop in the United States. Research conducted through this project will help to train a new generation of students and postdocs for future careers in academia, industry, or government service. International research exchanges with the European ERA-CAPS (http://www.eracaps.org/) companion project entitled "Biosynthesis, transport and exudation of 1,4-benzoxazin-3-ones as determinants of plant biotic interactions (BENZEX)" will enhance the training of students and postdocs. Experiments involving maize-herbivore interactions will be fully integrated into an established education and outreach program at the Boyce Thompson Institute. Undergraduate students from throughout the United States will be recruited to be part of a ten-week summer internship program. In one-week training sessions, biology teachers from under-resourced schools will develop new plant science modules for their classes. Experimental kits for conducting caterpillar-feeding assays in local science classrooms will not only provide students with hands-on research experience, but also generate new information about the mechanisms of maize defense against insect herbivory. All data and resources generated through this project will be publicly accessible. A major output of this project will be a publicly available toolkit for studying the role of benzoxazinoids in maize defense against herbivores and pathogens. Seeds of near-isogenic lines and mutants will be deposited in the Maize Genetics Cooperation stock center, DNA clones will be available upon request and assay methods will be published in scientific journals. All DNA sequences will be deposited in public databases such as the NCBI SRA, Gramene, and MaizeGDB. Metabolite and metabolomics data will be deposited at METLIN (http://metlin.scripps.edu/). Education and outreach materials will be published and available for use via the Boyce Thompson Institute website (http://bti.cornell.edu/education/).

PI：Georg Jander（博伊斯·汤普森植物研究所）高级人员：Tiffany Fleming（博伊斯·汤普森植物研究所）ERA-CAPS 合作者：Matthias Erb（瑞士伯尔尼大学）、Monika Frey（德国慕尼黑工业大学）、Inge Fomsgaard（丹麦奥胡斯大学）和 Jurriaan Ton（英国谢菲尔德大学） 玉米 (Zea mays) 是世界上产量最高的粮食作物，却受到 90 多种食草昆虫的侵袭。尽管玉米对草食性的抗性存在很大差异，但人们对玉米品种之间这些差异的潜在遗传基础知之甚少。遗传图谱、转录谱分析、昆虫生物测定和生化方法将用于鉴定玉米食草动物抗性基因。该项目的一个特别重点领域是鉴定有助于苯并嗪类化合物生产和运输的生物合成和调控基因，苯并嗪类化合物是一类在玉米、小麦、黑麦、野生大麦和其他草类中具有重要防御功能的次生代谢产物。涉及玉米苯并恶嗪类代谢的研究将为研究这些农业和生态上重要的植物代谢物提供易于处理的模型系统。使用一组不同的玉米自交系进行遗传作图将鉴定出有助于蚜虫和毛虫抗性的新基因。鉴于玉米植物自我保护所针对的害虫和病原体种类繁多，已确定的防御途径之间可能存在相互作用。通过比较已识别的玉米基因的基因组位置和生化功能，可以检测防御协同作用和权衡，这些基因有助于草食动物抗性的自然变异。 该项目将鉴定出以前未知的影响植物与食草动物相互作用的玉米基因。将记录玉米防御不同类别食草昆虫的潜在代谢限制和权衡。预计这些预期结果将为利用分子育种和转基因方法提高玉米（美国最重要的农作物）的食草动物抗性开辟新的机会。通过该项目进行的研究将有助于培训新一代学生和博士后，以适应未来在学术界、工业界或政府服务领域的职业生涯。与欧洲 ERA-CAPS (http://www.eracaps.org/) 配套项目“1,4-苯并恶嗪-3-酮的生物合成、运输和渗出作为植物生物相互作用的决定因素 (BENZEX)”的国际研究交流将加强对学生和博士后的培训。 涉及玉米与草食动物相互作用的实验将完全纳入博伊斯汤普森研究所既定的教育和推广计划。来自美国各地的本科生将被招募参加为期十周的暑期实习计划。在为期一周的培训课程中，资源匮乏学校的生物教师将为他们的班级开发新的植物科学模块。在当地科学教室进行毛毛虫喂养试验的实验套件不仅可以为学生提供实践研究经验，还可以产生有关玉米防御昆虫食草的机制的新信息。 通过该项目生成的所有数据和资源都将可供公开访问。 该项目的主要成果将是一个公开的工具包，用于研究苯并恶嗪类化合物在玉米防御食草动物和病原体中的作用。近等基因系和突变体的种子将存放在玉米遗传学合作库存中心，DNA 克隆将根据要求提供，测定方法将在科学期刊上发表。 所有 DNA 序列将存放在 NCBI SRA、Gramene 和 MaizeGDB 等公共数据库中。代谢物和代谢组学数据将存放在 METLIN (http://metlin.scripps.edu/)。教育和宣传材料将通过博伊斯汤普森研究所网站 (http://bti.cornell.edu/education/) 发布并可供使用。