BTT EAGER: Mitotic Recombination between Homologous Chromosomes

一个特定物种的所有个体都携带相同的基因。一个个体与另一个个体的不同之处在于这些基因的等位基因(版本)的独特组合。通过杂交携带不同等位基因的植物，作物育种者可以创造出具有新的等位基因组合的新作物品种。然而，由于基因在染色体上聚集在一起，一个基因的理想等位基因可能与同一染色体上另一个基因的不利等位基因非常接近。基因的紧密聚集或连锁意味着理想的和不理想的等位基因都是一起遗传的。这项研究提供了工具，允许植物育种者分离或替换连锁基因的等位基因。这项技术加快了生产新的和改良的作物品种的速度。这是一个重要的目标，因为新作物品种的开发是一场持续的竞赛，伴随着新品种病原体的进化，世界人口不断增长的需求，不可预测的气候，以及现有农田的退化。粮食安全--全球范围内，而不仅仅是国内--是我们国家安全的一个重要方面。CRISPR技术为在植物中产生定向DNA双链断裂(DSB)提供了一种非常具体和有效的手段。CRISPR诱导的断裂的端到端连接容易出错，可能会产生靶向突变和易位；通过同源重组(HR)进行修复可以创造新的等位基因或新的等位基因组合。CRISPR诱导的HR事件在植物中相对罕见。这里开发的工具提案提高了人力资源的效率。虽然这项技术适用于任何HR依赖的事件，但人们特别感兴趣的是促进内源性先前存在的等位基因之间的重组。这项技术极大地提高了用于育种和研究的新植物品系开发的速度和专一性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

All the individuals of a given species carry the same genes. What makes one individual different from another is its unique combination of alleles (versions) of those genes. By crossing plants carrying different sets of alleles, crop breeders can create new crop varieties, with new combinations of alleles. However, because genes are clustered together on chromosomes, a desirable allele of one gene may be located very close to an undesirable allele of another gene on the same chromosome. The close clustering, or linkage of genes means that both the desirable and undesirable alleles are inherited together. This research provides tools that allow the plant breeder to separate or replace alleles of linked genes. This technology accelerates the rate at which new and improved crop varieties can be produced. This is an important goal, as the development of new crop varieties is an ongoing race with the evolution of new varieties of pathogens, increasing demand from an expanding world population, unpredictable climate, and the degradation of existing farmland. Food security -worldwide, not just at home- is an essential aspect of our national security.CRISPR technologies provide a remarkably specific and efficient means for the generation of targeted DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) in plants. Error-prone end-to-end joining of CRISPR induced breaks can generate targeted mutations and translocations; repair via homologous recombination (HR) can create new alleles or new combinations of alleles. CRISPR-induced HR events are relatively rare in plants. Tools developed here proposal improve the efficiency of HR. While this technology applies to any HR-dependent event, specifically interest is in the facilitation of recombination between endogenous preexisting alleles. This technology greatly enhances the speed and specificity of the development of new plant lines, both for breeding and for research.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.