BTT EAGER: Harnessing the power of cellular memory to enhance the breeding potential of crops

BTT EAGER：利用细胞记忆的力量增强作物的育种潜力

• 批准号: 1844427
• 负责人: Robert Schmitz
• 金额: $ 29.99万
• 依托单位: University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-02-01 至 2022-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1844427&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: BTT; EAGER; Harnessing; power; cellular

Significant efforts are dedicated to identifying causal links between genetic and trait variation for crop improvement. Missing from these efforts is the pursuit of epigenetic variation, whereby stably inherited traits arise in the absence of genetic changes. It was recently discovered that clonal propagation of plants can induce epigenetic variation that is stably inherited in clonally regenerated plants. The goal of this project is to use this newly developed approach that couples a variety of environmental stresses with traditional plant clonal propagation techniques to produce maize plants with enhanced stress resistance. This project is a joint collaboration between the Schmitz Laboratory at the University of Georgia and the Gutierrez-Marcos Laboratory at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom and is supported as part of the Breakthrough Technologies competition, which is jointly funded by the National Science Foundation and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. The ability to uncover stress-responsive variation using this novel, clonal plant propagation strategy could lead to a rapid improvement of stress resilient maize varieties. In addition to the agricultural impact, this project will fund graduate student training in experimental and computational biology. The graduate students will participate in mentoring high-school summer intern students from the Young Dawgs program sponsored by the University of Georgia. These students will focus on biological computer programming. Additionally, hands-on workshops for experimental biology will be hosted at the University of Warwick through the Nuffield Foundation Research Program to inspire students and teachers to explore the area of plant biotechnology. This project aims to create Zea mays plants with enhanced responses to abiotic and biotic stresses. To accomplish this goal, a novel method to clonally regenerate maize plants in concert with different stress conditions to induce novel yet heritable epigenetic variation will be used. Transcriptome analyses will be performed to assess the functional significance of the stress-induced epigenetic variation a transcriptome analysis on regenerated plants. For the induced epigenetic variation to be relevant it must be stable over generations. Therefore, the stability of induced epigenetic variation by studying the DNA methylome and transcriptome of progeny plants derived from clonal regenerants will be assessed. In parallel, phenotypic characterization of the regenerant plants and their progeny in comparison to controls will be carried out to determine if enhanced responses to stress exist. These results will potentially lead to novel methodologies for inducing novel yet stable epigenetic variation, thus enabling innovative avenues for trait improvement in maize and possibly other crop species.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.

人们付出了巨大的努力来确定遗传和性状变异之间的因果关系，以促进作物改良。这些努力中缺少的是对表观遗传变异的追求，即在没有遗传变化的情况下出现稳定遗传的性状。最近发现，植物的克隆繁殖可以诱导表观遗传变异，这种变异在克隆再生的植物中是稳定遗传的。该项目的目标是使用这种新开发的方法，将各种环境胁迫与传统的植物克隆繁殖技术相结合，以产生具有增强抗逆性的玉米植株。该项目是格鲁吉亚大学Schmitz实验室和联合王国沃里克大学Gutierrez-Marcos实验室之间的一项联合合作，并作为突破技术竞赛的一部分得到支持，该竞赛由国家科学基金会和生物技术和生物科学研究理事会联合资助。利用这种新的克隆植物繁殖策略发现胁迫响应变异的能力可能会导致胁迫抗性玉米品种的快速改进。除了对农业的影响外，该项目还将资助实验和计算生物学方面的研究生培训。研究生将参加由格鲁吉亚大学赞助的“年轻的道格”项目的高中暑期实习生辅导。这些学生将专注于生物计算机编程。此外，实验生物学的实践研讨会将通过纳菲尔德基金会研究计划在沃里克大学举办，以激励学生和教师探索植物生物技术领域。该项目旨在创造对非生物和生物胁迫反应增强的玉米植物。为了实现这一目标，将使用一种新的方法，在不同的胁迫条件下克隆再生玉米植物，以诱导新的但可遗传的表观遗传变异。将进行转录组分析以评估再生植物上的转录组分析的胁迫诱导的表观遗传变异的功能意义。为了使诱导的表观遗传变异具有相关性，它必须在几代人中保持稳定。因此，将通过研究源自克隆再生体的子代植物的DNA甲基化组和转录组来评估诱导的表观遗传变异的稳定性。平行地，将进行再生植物及其后代与对照相比的表型表征，以确定是否存在对胁迫的增强的响应。这些结果将可能导致新的方法，诱导新的但稳定的表观遗传变异，从而使创新的途径，性状改良玉米和可能的其他农作物species.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得支持，通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

项目成果

Genome-Wide Reinforcement of DNA Methylation Occurs during Somatic Embryogenesis in Soybean

• DOI: 10.1105/tpc.19.00255
• 发表时间: 2019-10-01
• 期刊: PLANT CELL
• 影响因子: 11.6
• 作者: Ji, Lexiang;Mathioni, Sandra M.;Schmitz, Robert J.
• 通讯作者: Schmitz, Robert J.

Assessing the regulatory potential of transposable elements using chromatin accessibility profiles of maize transposons

• DOI: 10.1093/genetics/iyaa003
• 发表时间: 2021-01-01
• 期刊: GENETICS
• 影响因子: 3.3
• 作者: Noshay, Jaclyn M.;Marand, Alexandre P.;Springer, Nathan M.
• 通讯作者: Springer, Nathan M.