EAGER: Developing Stress Tolerant Plants Through Cytoplasmic mMdification

美国明尼苏达大学双子城分校/美国农业部谷物疾病实验室：陈昌斌(明尼苏达大学双子城分校)核质基因组之间的相互作用在所有真核生物的发育中起着至关重要的作用。已知数百种人类疾病和植物的许多表型变异是影响这种交流的变化的结果。然而，人们对植物核质相互作用的本质知之甚少。小麦是含有野生及近缘物种细胞质基因组的最大异质系，是研究核质相互作用的理想模式系统。PI实验室的研究表明，与含有真细胞质的异质系相比，含有野生小麦近缘细胞质的异质系表现出显著的抗病能力、活力和生产力。来自这些品系的测序数据还表明，不仅线粒体基因组因核基因组的替换而改变，而且这些改变还会导致线粒体基因表达模式的改变。这项迫切的建议将研究细胞质修饰在逆境耐受性中的作用，这可能为作物的生物和非生物逆境育种提供一种新的途径。其具体目标是：1)通过调查近100个抗病原菌和盐胁迫的异质系，确定细胞质基因组在生物和非生物逆境耐性中的程度和作用；2)确定导致生物和非生物逆境反应改变的细胞质基因组；以及3)研究细胞质基因组在逆境耐性中的分子机制。这个项目将促进人们对细胞质基因组在提高植物对生物和非生物胁迫的耐受性方面所起的作用的理解，并将在育种中发挥重要作用。目前的育种策略完全依赖于优势物种的同质细胞质背景。这项研究可能会改变这一模式，利用野生物种的细胞质基因组，赋予其对生物和非生物胁迫的耐受性。研究活动将与明尼苏达大学旨在招收和培训各级学生的计划相结合。根据博士后助理设计的个人发展计划，博士后科学家将由两名私人助理指导和建议，并接受基因组学、生物信息学、赠款撰写、网络和教学方面的培训。该项目产生的所有测序数据都将存储在公共数据库中，如NCBI。该项目开发的种质资源将根据要求通过美国农业部国家小谷物收藏中心提供。

PI: Shahryar F. Kianian (University of Minnesota-Twin Cities/ USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory)CoPI: Changbin Chen (University of Minnesota-Twin Cities)The interaction between the nuclear and cytoplasmic genomes plays a critical role in the development of all eukaryotes. Hundreds of human diseases and many phenotypic variations in plants are known to be the result of alterations affecting this communication. However, the nature of nuclear-cytoplasmic interactions in plants is poorly understood. Wheat has the largest array of alloplasmic lines containing cytoplasmic genomes derived from wild and related species than any other mammalian, insect, or plant system and is an ideal model system for the study of nuclear-cytoplasmic interactions. Studies in the PI's laboratory showed that alloplasmic lines containing cytoplasm from wild wheat relatives showed significantly increased disease resistance, vigor, and productivity when compared to the corresponding euplasmic (with true cytoplasm) lines. Sequencing data from these lines also show that not only does the mitochondrial genome change by replacement of the nuclear genome but that those changes result in alteration of mitochondrial gene expression patterns. This EAGER proposal will investigate the role of cytoplasmic modifications in stress tolerance which could provide a new way of breeding for biotic and abiotic stress in crop plants. The specific objectives are to: 1) determine the extent and role of cytoplasmic genomes on biotic and abiotic stress tolerance by investigating ~100 alloplasmic lines for resistance to pathogens and salt stress; 2) identify the cytoplasmic genome that is responsible for the altered response to biotic and abiotic stress; and 3) investigate the molecular mechanism underlying the effect of cytoplasmic genomes on stress tolerance. This project will advance understanding of the role that cytoplasmic genomes play in providing increased tolerance to biotic and abiotic stressin plants and will be important in breeding. Current breeding strategies rely purely on homogeneous cytoplasmic background of the predominant species. This study could change this paradigm to take advantage of cytoplasmic genomes from wild species that confer tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress. The research activities will be interfaced with the University of Minnesota's programs designed to recruit and train students at all levels. A postdoctoral scientist will be mentored and advised by the two PIs and given training in genomics, bioinformatics, grant writing, networking and teaching, according to the individual development plan designed by the postdoctoral associate. All sequencing data generated by this project will be deposited in public databases such as NCBI. The germplasm developed by this project will be made available upon request through the USDA National Small Grains Collection.