NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2019: Leveraging Natural Variation to Understand Desiccation Tolerance in the Resurrection Plant Myrothamnus flabellifolia

这项行动为2019财年的NSF国家植物基因组计划生物学博士后研究奖学金提供资金。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。这项研究和培训计划的标题是“利用自然变异来了解复活植物Myrothamnus flabellifolia的干燥耐受性”。该研究金的主办机构是密歇根州立大学和开普敦大学（南非），赞助科学家是Robert VanBuren博士和Jill Farrant博士。植物受到全球变化、气候模式变化和相关的非生物胁迫的威胁。缺水尤其是农业损失的主要原因。为了加强粮食安全，必须制定战略和开发新技术，以提高作物对缺水的耐受力。该研究项目的前提是，天然耐胁迫植物包含丰富的信息来源，可用于作物改良和生物工程工作。该项目的目标是全面表征极耐旱复活植物M的遗传、生理和生态耐受机制。扇叶在培训和指导方面的更广泛影响包括制定一个国际指导方案，在该方案中，密歇根州立大学和开普敦大学的学生将在研究员的指导下合作开展研究活动。推广活动包括一项计划，以提高文化意识和参与当地社区的社会效益，培养M。扇叶植物的次级化合物可用于医药和化妆品应用。培训目标包括获得植物生理学、生物化学、基因组学、生态学和数量遗传学方面的专业知识。耐旱性是耐旱性的一种形式，使组织能够从极端干燥中恢复（即，低于-100 MPa的绝对水含量）。填补我们对干旱耐受性的认识空白是防止干旱造成的损失和确保全球粮食安全的重要一步。该项目的总体目标是提供新的见解的细胞，分子和生理机制，支持干燥耐受性。具体目标包括：1）建立了复活植物蜡梅（Myrothamnusflabellifolia）的脱水耐性多样性表型，并对蜡梅（Myrothamnusflabellifolia）的脱水耐性进行了研究。flabellifolia种群发生沿着一个极端的水可用性梯度; 3）表征光合响应干燥和保护性次生代谢产物，以提供深入了解的细胞和分子基础上的变化，在干燥耐受性;和4）产生序列资源M。通过转录组和基因组测序，用于通过eQTL关联作图鉴定干旱响应变异的靶基因座。 项目期间生成的所有序列数据将在NCBI Short Read Archive（https：//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/）中提供以供存档。这些研究产生和/或使用的所有种质将在UCT保存和储存，并根据要求提供。将向Bolus植物标本馆（www.bolus.uct.ac.za/）（南非）提交这些标本。 此外，该项目产生的实验结果将存放在Figshare数据存储库（https：//digitalscience.figshare.com/），并通过期刊出版物和科学会议上的演讲传播。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 2019. 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 Rose Marks is "Leveraging Natural Variation to Understand Desiccation Tolerance in the Resurrection Plant Myrothamnus flabellifolia". The host institutions for the fellowship are Michigan State University and the University of Cape Town (South Africa) and the sponsoring scientists are Drs. Robert VanBuren and Jill Farrant. Plants are threatened by global change, increasing variability in weather patterns, and associated abiotic stress. Water shortage, in particular, is a primary cause of agricultural loss. In order to improve food security, it is critical that strategies and new technologies be developed to enhance water-stress tolerance in crops. This research project is based on the premise that naturally stress tolerant plants comprise a rich source of information that can be mined for crop improvement and bioengineering efforts. The goal of the project is to comprehensively characterize the genetic, physiological, and ecological mechanisms of tolerance in the extremely drought tolerant resurrection plant M. flabellifolia. Broader impacts with respect to training and mentoring include developing an international mentorship program in which students from both Michigan State University and the University of Cape Town (UCT) will collaborate in research activities under the guidance of the Fellow. Outreach activities include a plan to increase cultural awareness and engage local communities in the societal benefits of cultivating M. flabellifolia for its secondary compounds of use in medicinal and cosmetic applications. Training objectives include acquiring expertise in plant physiology, biochemistry, genomics, ecology and quantitative genetics.Desiccation tolerance is a form of drought tolerance that enables tissues to recover from extreme drying (i.e., below an absolute water content of -100 MPa). Filling knowledge gaps in our understanding of desiccation tolerance is an important step towards preventing drought induced losses and ensuring global food security. The overall goal of this project is to provide new insight into the cellular, molecular and physiological mechanisms that underpin desiccation tolerance. Specific aims include: 1) establishing a desiccation tolerance diversity panel in the unique and understudied resurrection plant Myrothamnus flabellifolia; 2) characterizing phenotypic differences in desiccation tolerance among M. flabellifolia populations occurring along an extreme water availability gradient; 3) characterizing photosynthetic responses to desiccation and protective secondary metabolites to provide insight into the cellular and molecular basis for variability in desiccation tolerance; and 4) generating sequence resources for M. flabellifolia through transcriptome and genome sequencing for use in identifying target loci for variation in drought response via eQTL association mapping. All sequence data generated during the project will be made available in the NCBI Short Read Archive (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/) for archiving. All germplasm generated and/or used for these studies will be maintained and stored at UCT and made available upon request. Voucher specimens will be submitted to the Bolus Herbarium (www.bolus.uct.ac.za/) (South Africa). In addition, experimental results generated from this project will be deposited at the Figshare data repository (https://digitalscience.figshare.com/) and disseminated through journal publications and presentations at scientific meetings.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.