Engineering Optimized Source-Sink Interaction in Maize and Sorghum

这项行动资助了2018财年的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。Jennifer阿普博士的研究和培训计划的标题是“玉米和高粱的工程优化源库相互作用”。“该奖学金的主办机构是唐纳德·丹福思植物科学中心，赞助科学家是道格拉斯艾伦博士。随着世界人口的增加，作物育种工作将需要增加产量，同时尽量减少对环境的有害影响。特别是，了解植物如何获得和使用氮可以帮助确定适当的肥料使用。植物的氮需求在植物的不同部分中是不同的，这取决于该组织是光合作用的并作为碳源，如在叶子中，还是作为碳和氮的汇，如在种子中。具有优化的源库关系的植物可以打破产量和蛋白质含量之间的负相关关系，这在过去50年中得到了很好的证明。研究员的培训目标包括合成生物学、基因工程和代谢通量分析。更广泛的影响包括通过与圣路易斯女童子军、ASPB种植科学和未来跋涉STEM职业的外联项目促进植物科学。该项目将在玉米、高粱、以C4模式种狗尾草（Setariaviridis）为研究对象，探讨了禾谷类植物叶片和种子中氮代谢中天冬酰胺循环与C4光合途径的相互关系，以调节源库关系。参与天冬酰胺循环和C4光合作用的基因的新表达模式将被工程化，以优化整个植物生命周期的表达，并打破蛋白质和产量的权衡。这项研究的结果将在会议上和通过出版物传播。生成的数据将提交给数据储存库：Panzea（http：www.panzea.org）、NCBI-SRA（http：//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra）、NCBI-GEO（http：//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo）和玉米遗传学和基因组学数据库（http：www.maizegdb.org）。玉米、狗尾草、高粱、氮、光合作用、源-库该奖项反映了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。

This action funds an NSF National Plant Genome Initiative Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2018. 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 Dr. Jennifer Arp is "Engineering Optimized Source-Sink Interaction in Maize and Sorghum." The host institution for the fellowship is the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. Douglas Allen.As the world population increases, crop breeding efforts will need to increase yields while minimizing detrimental impacts on the environment. In particular, understanding how plants acquire and use nitrogen can help determine proper fertilizer use. Plant nitrogen demands vary in different parts of the plant based on whether the tissue is photosynthetic and acting as a source of carbon, as in leaves, or is a sink for carbon and nitrogen as in seeds. Plants with optimized source-sink relationships could break the inverse correlation between yield and protein content that is well-documented over the last 50 years. Training objectives for the Fellow include synthetic biology, genetic engineering, and metabolic flux analysis. Broader impacts include promoting plant science through outreach programs with the St. Louis Girl Scouts, ASPB Planting Science, and Future Trek STEM Careers.This project will use a genetic approach in maize, sorghum, and the C4 model species Setaria viridis to investigate the interrelationship between asparagine cycling in nitrogen metabolism and the C4 photosynthetic pathway in leaves and seeds of cereals in order to modulate source and sink relationships. New expression patterns for genes involved in asparagine cycling and C4 photosynthesis will be engineered to optimize expression throughout the plant life cycle and break the protein and yield tradeoff. Results from this research will be disseminated at conferences and through publications. Data generated will be submitted to data repositories: Panzea (http://www.panzea.org), NCBI-SRA (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra), NCBI-GEO (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo), and Maize Genetics and Genomics Database (http://www.maizegdb.org).Keywords: Maize, Setaria, Sorghum, Nitrogen, Photosynthesis, Source-sinkThis 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.