RUI: The Function and Regulation of Invertase Inhibitors during Early Seed Development in Arabidopsis

种子是一种主要的可再生资源，用于生产食品、饲料、能源和工业材料。适当的种子发育依赖于从母体植物输入的营养，以及三个种子室--胚胎、胚乳和种皮--之间的适当营养分配。关于胚乳和胚之间的界面营养分配是如何调节的，人们知之甚少。这个项目将研究在胚乳中表达的两个基因如何影响糖到胚胎的运输速度。该项目的成果将促进我们对控制种子大小的遗传机制的了解，这将适用于作物品种的产量和谷物质量的改进。该项目将通过在一所面向非裔美国人的女子文理学院进行研究和教学相结合，提高研究能力并改善本科生STEM教育。本科生将被招募到PI的实验室进行独立研究。该项目预计将改善STEM专业招收少数族裔和女性学生的情况。众所周知，胚乳细胞化的时机会影响胚胎的生长速度。然而，其潜在的分子机制在很大程度上仍未被探索。这个项目将检验这样的假设，即多梳抑制复合体2(PRC2)抑制转化酶抑制物(InvINHs)基因的表达，以调节胚乳和胚胎之间的糖分配。其具体目的是通过基因操作确定InvINHs与胚胎生长抑制之间的因果关系，并确定调控InvINHs表达的顺式元件和转录因子。这项拟议的活动有望确定胚乳细胞化的主要调节因子--PRC2复合体如何通过抑制InvINH来调节胚胎和胚乳之间的营养分配。对这种联系的深入理解将使我们能够进一步研究胚乳发育程序中的修饰如何塑造种子形态的进化。

Seed is a major renewable resource for the production of food, feed, energy, and industrial materials. Proper seed development relies on the nutrients imported from the maternal plant, as well as appropriate nutrient allocation among the three seed compartments, the embryo, the endosperm, and the seed coat. Very little is known about how nutrient allocation is regulated at the interface between the endosperm and the embryo. This project will investigate how two genes expressed in the endosperm influence the rate of sugar transport to the embryo. The outcome of the project will advance our knowledge on the genetic mechanisms that control seed size, which will be applicable to the improvement of yield and grain quality in crop species. This project will enhance research capacity and improve undergraduate STEM education through the integration of research and teaching at a women's liberal arts college for African Americans. Undergraduate students will be recruited to conduct independent research in the PI's lab. The project is expected to improve the recruitment of minority and women students into STEM disciplines. It is well known that the timing of endosperm cellularization affects embryo growth rate. However, the underlying molecular mechanism has remained largely unexplored. This project will test the hypothesis that the Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) represses the expression of invertase inhibitor (InvINHs) genes to regulate sugar allocation between the endosperm and the embryo. The specific aims are to establish the causality between InvINHs and the suppression of embryo growth through genetic manipulation, and to identify the cis-elements and the transcription factors that regulate InvINHs expression. The proposed activity is expected to establish how a master regulator of endosperm cellularization, the PRC2 complex, regulates nutrient allocation between the embryo and the endosperm via the repression of InvINHs. A deeper understanding of this connection will allow us to further investigate how modifications in the endosperm developmental program have shaped the evolution of seed morphology.