Analysis of the Flowering Regulatory Network in the Grass Brachypodium distachyon

开花的开始是植物生命周期中的一个关键转变。在许多植物物种中，特别是那些适应温带气候的植物，开花发生在一年中的特定时间，以响应对季节线索的感知，如日照长度和温度的变化。这项研究的目的是进一步了解控制开花时间的基因和生化途径，以响应草的季节性线索，草是一组植物，包括许多重要的作物，如小麦，燕麦，水稻和玉米。大部分研究将利用模式草二穗短柄草，因为在这个物种中工作有助于识别响应季节线索的开花基因。所产生的数据将有助于为定制作物物种的开花奠定基础，并将推进对生物体如何进化系统以感知环境线索并将这些线索转化为发育程序（如开花的启动）的基本理解。该项目将导致研究生和博士后的培训，并为本科生提供机会，了解遗传学，分子生物学和植物发育方面的研究，同时探索他们在STEM职业生涯中的兴趣。该项目还将涉及一个课堂模块的开发，为K-12学生提供一个机会，探索植物如何生长和发育，并对季节性信号作出反应，如冬天的寒冷。基因表达的表观遗传变化，使适应温带气候的禾本科植物能够在春季最有利于繁殖的条件下开花。这个过程被称为春化。该项目将涉及研究某些最近发现的关键基因，这些基因涉及冷介导的和短日照介导的禾本科植物开花。这些基因以前并不知道在开花中发挥作用。一组基因编码的蛋白质可能是一种新的植物特异性基因调控复合物的一部分;另一组基因代表成花素基因家族成员的新角色。将采用遗传学和生物化学相结合的方法来探索这些基因编码的蛋白质的作用，目的是更好地了解开花如何响应草中的季节性线索的分子基础。研究中的开花途径在不同植物群体中独立进化，因此，该研究也是研究如何通过趋同进化途径解决确保开花仅在冬季结束后发生的共同问题的模型。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The initiation of flowering is a key transition in the plant life cycle. In many plant species, particularly those adapted to temperate climates, flowering occurs at a particular time of year in response to the sensing of seasonal cues such as changes in day-length and temperature. The objective of the research is to further the understanding of the genes and biochemical pathways that control the timing of flowering in response to seasonal cues in grasses, a group of plants that includes many important crops such as wheat, oats, rice, and corn. Much of the research will utilize the model grass Brachypodium distachyon because working in this species facilitates identifying the genes underlying flowering in response to seasonal cues. The data generated will help to lay the groundwork for tailoring the flowering of crop species, and will advance the basic understanding of how organisms have evolved systems to perceive environmental cues and translate those cues into developmental programs such as the initiation of flowering. This project will result in the training of graduate students and postdocs, and provide undergraduates with an opportunity to learn about research in genetics, molecular biology, and plant development while exploring their interests in a STEM career. The project will also involve development of a classroom module to provide K-12 students with an opportunity to explore how plants grow and develop and respond to seasonal signals such as the cold of winter.A major goal is to advance the understanding of how perception of winter cold as well as the short days of winter are translated into stable, epigenetic changes in gene expression that enable grasses that are adapted to temperate climates to become competent to flower in the spring when conditions are most favorable for reproduction. The process is known as vernalization. The project will involve studying certain recently discovered key genes involved in both cold-mediated and short-day-mediated flowering in grasses. These genes had not previously been known to play a role in flowering. One group of genes encodes proteins that may be part of a novel, plant-specific gene regulatory complex; another represents a new role for a member of the florigen gene family. A combination of genetics and biochemistry will be employed to explore the role of the proteins encoded by these genes with the goal of better understanding the molecular basis of how flowering is regulated in response to seasonal cues in grasses. The flowering pathways under study evolved independently in different groups of plants; thus, this research is also a model for studying how convergent evolutionary pathways can lead to a solution to the common problem of ensuring that flowering only occurs after winter has ended.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.