NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2015

该行动资助了2015财年NSF国家植物基因组计划生物学博士后研究奖学金。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。玛格丽特·弗兰克（Margaret Frank）的研究和培训计划的标题是：“通过嫁接诱导的活力，番茄中长距离RNA信号的作用。“该奖学金的主办机构是唐纳德·丹佛斯植物科学中心，赞助科学家是丹尼尔·奇特伍德博士。在面临恶劣生长条件的情况下提高作物产量，无论是来自病虫害还是因为太热太干，都是农业的中心问题。嫁接是一种将一种植物的芽与另一种植物的根结合在一起的技术，已经使用了2,000多年，将根和芽的理想组合结合在一起，从而使植物能够在次优条件下生长，提高产量并改善作物质量。在番茄中，嫁接到杂交根上的枝条（来自不同番茄物种的杂交）显示出产量增加。这项拟议中的研究是为了了解根与芽的沟通方式，并找到根和芽的遗传组合，共同作用以提高产量。更广泛的影响包括为本科生和研究生提供培训机会，研究员参加职业建设讲习班，以及开发一个教学模块，将延时成像与圣刘易斯小学的社区园艺相结合，为STEM领域代表性不足的群体提供服务。培训目标包括基因组学、生物信息学、定量遗传学和现场表型分析。 尽管最近的实验证据表明，非细胞自主长距离信号可能在嫁接影响植物生长和生理的机制中发挥重要作用，但这些信号与产量之间的精确联系仍然知之甚少，甚至在很大程度上未被探索。在该项目中，将通过进行一系列实验来探索这种联系，这些实验将嫁接番茄植物的生理和结构特征与原生以及非细胞自主移植物传递的信使RNA和小RNA谱的器官特异性分子特征联系起来。与传统的嫁接诱导活力的数量性状基因座作图平行，这些数据将用于识别以非细胞自主方式发挥作用的候选基因，以推动茄科作物性能的改善。这项研究的发现将通过在顶级会议上的演讲、在同行评审期刊上的发表以及向以下公共存储库提交数据来传播：NCBI Sequence Read Archive（http：//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra）、NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus（http：//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/）和SOL Genomics Network（http：//solgenomics.net/）。该教学模块将在Donald Danforth Center Maker Group（http：//maker.danforthcenter.org/pages/about.html）和种植科学网站（http：//www.plantingscience.org/）上共享。

This action funds an NSF National Plant Genome Initiative Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2015. 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 Margaret Frank is, "A role for long-distance RNA signaling in tomato via graft-induced vigor." The host institution for the fellowship is the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. Daniel Chitwood.Increasing crop yield in the face of bad growing conditions, whether from pests and diseases or because it is too hot and dry, is a central problem in agriculture. Grafting, a technique that combines the shoots of one plant with the roots of another, has been used for over 2,000 years to bring together ideal combinations of roots and shoots, thus allowing plants to grow in sub-optimal conditions, increase yield, and improve crop quality. In tomato, shoots that are grafted onto hybrid roots (resulting from crossing different tomato species) show increased yield. This proposed research is to understand how roots communicate with shoots, and to find the genetic combinations of roots and shoots that act together to increase yield. Broader impacts include training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, the participation of the Fellow in career-building workshops, as well as the development of a teaching module that combines time-lapse imaging with community gardening for Saint Louis elementary schools that serve groups who are underrepresented in STEM fields. Training objectives include genomics, bioinformatics, quantitative genetics, and field phenotyping. Although recent experimental evidence suggests that non-cell autonomous long-distance signals may play an important role in the mechanism through which grafting impacts plant growth and physiology, the precise connection between these signals and yield remains poorly understood, and even largely unexplored. In this project, this connection will be explored by conducting a series of experiments linking the physiological and architectural hallmarks of grafted tomato plants to the organ-specific molecular signatures of native as well non-cell autonomous graft-transmissible messenger RNA- and small RNA profiles. In parallel with traditional quantitative trait locus mapping of grafting-induced vigor, the data will be used to identify candidate genes that function in a non-cell autonomous manner to drive improvements in solanaceous crop performance. Discoveries from this research will be disseminated through presentations at top tier conferences, publication in peer-reviewed journals, and submission of data to the following public repositories: NCBI Sequence Read Archive (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra), NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/) and the SOL Genomics Network (http://solgenomics.net/). The teaching module will be shared on the Donald Danforth Center Maker Group (http://maker.danforthcenter.org/pages/about.html) and Planting Science websites (http://www.plantingscience.org/).