Joint NSF/ERA-CAPS: EVOREPRO - Evolution of Plant Reproductive Processes

PI：Mark A。约翰逊（布朗大学）ERA-CAPS合作者：约尔格·贝克尔（葡萄牙奥埃拉斯，古尔本基安科学研究所），Frederic Berger（奥地利维也纳孟德尔研究所）、托马斯·德雷斯尔豪斯和斯蒂芬妮·施普龙克（德国里根斯堡，里根斯堡大学），大卫特韦尔（联合王国莱斯特，莱斯特大学），Marek Mutwil（Max Plank Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology，波茨坦，德国）和Jose Gutierrez-Marcos（英国沃里克沃里克大学）以玉米、水稻、小麦、和番茄都需要通过受精成功繁殖。未来几年提高作物产量的能力将取决于更好地了解生殖机制。该项目的目标是采取什么已经了解到的分子介导受精的模式植物物种（拟南芥），并扩展这方面的知识，使用比较基因组的方法在七种植物物种，包括玉米，水稻和番茄。预期的研究结果将允许识别特定的机制，在作物有性生殖过程中的环境压力的目标，并将有助于选择抗应激品种。该项目的成果将使人们更深入地了解具有重要经济意义的植物物种有性生殖的演变。此外，该项目将提供生物成像，遗传学和基因组学方面的尖端培训，在关键作物（番茄）的背景下，为包括博士后研究员和本科生研究员在内的多元化研究团队提供培训。重要的是，这个研究团队将受益于参与这个大型，多学科和国际性的努力，包括来自五个国家的八个实验室。在过去五年的研究已经提供了巨大的新见解配子生理学和拟南芥受精机制。这一进展确立了配子是具有高度特异性转录谱的高分化细胞类型的观点。基于荧光报告和活细胞成像的显微镜技术的进步也改变了研究能力，并提供了对配子传递、相互作用和种子发育激活机制的见解。然而，对显花植物双受精复杂性的理解还远未完成，并且缺乏关于双受精前机制起源的任何知识。在这个项目中，代表植物进化关键阶段的新兴模型将用于深入了解配子分化和受精的祖先机制。基因协同功能网络将被确定从几种植物的表达图谱，包括地钱，苔藓立碗藓和现存的基生开花植物Amborella。这些将与来自拟南芥和重要经济作物玉米、番茄和水稻的共功能网络相补充，并用于研究开花植物中控制雄性和雌性配子发生、花粉管生长和受精机制的基因共功能网络的保护。此外，这些研究将提供新的作物育性分子标记。预计该项目将导致鉴定在单子叶植物（禾本科植物）和真双子叶植物进化过程中从古代被子植物中丢失的受精因子以及在被子植物谱系中重新进化的受精因子。 所产生的所有数据将在联合体内自由和持续地共享。具体而言，RNAseq数据集将通过联盟数据库以及公共数据库访问。

PI: Mark A. Johnson (Brown University)ERA-CAPS Collaborators: Jörg Becker (Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Oeiras, Portugal), Frederic Berger (Gregor Mendel Institute, Vienna, Austria), Thomas Dresselhaus and Stefanie Sprunck (University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany), David Twell (University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom), Marek Mutwil (Max Plank Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam, Germany), and Jose Gutierrez-Marcos (University of Warwick, Warwick, United Kingdom)The key agricultural products derived from corn, rice, wheat, and tomato all require successful reproduction by fertilization. The ability to increase crop production in the coming years will depend on developing a better understanding of reproductive mechanisms. The goal of this project is to take what has been learned about the molecules that mediate fertilization in a model plant species (Arabidopsis) and extend this knowledge using a comparative genomic approach in seven plant species including corn, rice, and tomato. The expected findings will allow for the identification of specific mechanisms that are targeted by environmental stresses during sexual reproduction in crops and will assist in the selection of stress-resistant cultivars. The outputs of this project will provide a deeper understanding of the evolution of sexual reproduction of economically important plant species. In addition this project will provide cutting edge training in biological imaging, genetics and genomics in the context of a critical crop plant (tomato) for a diverse team of researchers that will include a post-doctoral fellow and an undergraduate researcher. Importantly, this research team will be benefit from participation in this large, multidisciplinary and international effort comprising eight laboratories from five nations.Research during the past five years has delivered tremendous new insights into gamete physiology and the mechanisms involved in fertilization in Arabidopsis. This progress has established the view that gametes are hyper-differentiated cell types with highly specific transcriptional profiles. Advances in microscopy based on fluorescent reporters and live cell imaging have also transformed research capability and provided insights into the mechanisms involved in gamete delivery, interaction and activation of seed development. Yet, the understanding of the complexity of double fertilization that characterizes flowering plants is far from complete and lacks any knowledge about the origin of mechanisms that predate double fertilization. In this project, emerging models representing key stages in plant evolution will be used to provide insight into the ancestral mechanisms of gamete differentiation and fertilization. Gene co-function networks will be identified from expression atlases for several plant species that include the liverwort Marchantia, the moss Physcomitrella and the extant basal flowering plant Amborella. These will be complemented with co-function networks from Arabidopsis and the economically important crops maize, tomato and rice and used to study the conservation of gene co-function networks governing male and female gametogenesis, pollen tube growth and fertilization mechanisms in flowering plants. Moreover, these investigations will provide novel molecular markers of fertility in crops. It is expected that this project will result in identification of fertilization factors that were lost from ancient angiosperms during the evolution of monocots (grasses) and eudicots and those which have evolved de novo in the angiosperm lineage. All data produced will be freely and continuously shared within the consortium. Specifically, RNAseq datasets will be accessible through a consortium database as well as through publicly available data repositories.