EAGER: Development of non-tissue culture based maize transformation

玉米的独特之处在于它是研究基本生物学问题的最佳模式生物之一，同时作为一种主要作物具有重要的经济价值。为了保持农业的竞争力并为未来的环境挑战（如干旱或疾病爆发）做好准备，需要新技术来加速玉米的基础研究。遗传转化是基础生物学研究的重要工具。它允许对基因功能进行更完整的分析，从而增加农业进步所依赖的知识基础。这也是在作物中产生生物技术性状以增强和提供粮食生产稳定性的关键一步。尽管经过多年的努力，在玉米上进行基因转化仍然非常困难。目前生产转化玉米植株的技术存在技术困难、成本高、周转时间长等问题。因此，基因转化是阻碍基础研究和农业发展的瓶颈。该项目将开发一种新的方法，将基因传递到玉米穗上的未成熟种子，结合遗传颜色标记，可以明显识别成功转化的种子。这将加速玉米研究的许多方面的进展。利用玉米生殖发育的知识，正在开发一种方法，使所有能够进行基本玉米遗传学和分子生物学的实验室都可以进行玉米转化。对正在发育的玉米穗进行农杆菌处理，以测试其产生玉米籽粒遗传转化的能力。将测试两种通常用于遗传研究的玉米自交系品种以及一种具有生殖异常的突变体，以确定最可靠和用户友好的方法。这种简单、快速和有效的技术将使单个实验室能够生产转基因植物，而不会出现与组织培养植株再生相关的表观遗传异常，同时也避免了对高度专业化人员的需要或将转基因系生产外包给服务设施的需要，这些设施的能力有限。从广义上讲，这种新的转化技术不仅有利于以玉米为模式生物的基础研究，而且对农业上的玉米生产有很大的贡献。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

Part 1 Non-technicalCorn is unique in that it is one of the best model organisms for studying fundamental biological questions, and at the same time has significant economic value as a major crop. To maintain competitiveness in agriculture and prepare for future environmental challenges, such as drought or disease outbreaks, new technologies are needed to accelerate basic research in corn. Genetic transformation is an essential tool for fundamental biological studies. It allows for a more complete analysis of gene function, enabling an increase in the knowledge base upon which advances in agriculture are made. It is also a key step in generating biotech traits in crop plants to enhance and provide stability for food production. Despite years of effort, genetic transformation is still remarkably difficult to perform in corn. The current technology for production of transformed corn plants is limited by technical difficulties, high cost, and long turnaround time. Consequently, genetic transformation is a bottleneck that slows basic research and agricultural advancement. This project will develop a new method to deliver genes to immature seed on corn ears, combined with genetic color markers that visibly identify the successfully transformed seed. This will accelerate progress for many aspects of maize research. Part 2 TechnicalUsing knowledge of maize reproductive development, a method is being developed to make transformation of maize accessible to all labs that are able to perform basic maize genetics and molecular biology. Agrobacterium treatment of developing maize ears will be tested for the ability to produce heritable transformation of maize kernels. Two maize inbred varieties that are commonly used for genetic research will be tested as well as a mutant with reproductive abnormalities to identify the most robust and user-friendly method possible. This simple, quick and efficient technique will enable individual labs to produce transgenic plants without the epigenetic abnormalities associated with tissue culture plantlet regeneration while also circumventing the need for highly specialized personnel or out-sourcing of transgenic line production to service facilities, which are limited in capacity. Broadly, this new transformation technique will not only benefit fundamental researches using maize as a model organism, but also contribute greatly to maize production in agriculture.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.