EDGE TT: Developing transformation capacity for Anthoceros agrestis to facilitate gene function studies in hornworts, a remarkable phylum of plants

本研究的目的是使角苔（Anthocerophyta），一个独特的苔藓植物谱系的基因功能的研究。这项工作的结果将有助于研究角苔通过与蓝藻共生固定氮和利用专门的碳浓缩机制（CCM）固定碳的特殊方式。角苔对理解植物进化的重大转变也至关重要，因为它们代表了陆地植物形成的关键步骤，并具有一系列独特的发育特征。本研究开发的基因转化和基因编辑工具将广泛而迅速地传播到科学界。将举办研讨会和研讨会，以建立一个蓬勃发展的角苔社区，并提供有关角苔研究工具的实践经验。此外，通过博伊斯汤普森学院暑期实习计划，三名本科生将得到指导。实习生将能够利用这个项目的综合性质，学习植物组织培养、湿实验室实验和生物信息学。最后，通过基因研究来调查角苔？独特的蓝藻共生和CCM，该项目可能具有农业意义，以改善作物植物氮和碳的吸收。尽管有可能解决生物学中各种长期存在的问题，但由于缺乏遗传工具，对角苔的研究一直受到限制。过去使用rna测序和比较基因组学的研究已经确定了几个与蓝藻共生和CCM有关的候选基因，但由于缺乏反向遗传工具包，对这些候选基因的进一步研究受到限制。在角苔类植物中已有基因转移或转化的研究，但效率很低，结果也不一致。该项目的目标是在角菜Anthoceros agrestis中建立稳健的转化和基因编辑方法。对角苔进行基因研究不仅可以补充其他两种苔藓植物模型（小壶藓和多形地苔），而且还将为研究一种具有无与伦比生物学特性的独特植物提供前所未有的机会。广泛的科学团体将受益，包括研究植物进化、发育遗传学、古生物学、光生物学、植物-微生物相互作用和光合作用的研究人员。该奖项由基因组工具（EDGE）计划和植物基因组研究计划（PGRP）共同资助。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，认为值得支持。

This research aims to enable gene function studies in hornworts (Anthocerophyta), a distinct lineage of bryophytes. Outcomes from this work will facilitate investigating the exceptional ways hornworts fix nitrogen through symbiosis with cyanobacteria and fix carbon using a specialized carbon-concentrating mechanism (CCM). Hornworts are also critical for understanding major transitions in plant evolution because they represent a critical step in the formation of land plants and have a set of unique developmental features. The genetic transformation and gene-editing tools developed in this study will be disseminated broadly and rapidly to the scientific community. A symposium and a workshop will be held to build a thriving hornwort community and provide hands-on experiences on hornwort research tools. In addition, through the Boyce Thompson Institute Summer Internship program, three undergraduate students will be mentored. The interns will be able to take advantage of the integrative nature of this project, and learn plant tissue culture, wet lab experiments, and bioinformatics. Finally, by enabling genetic research to investigate hornworts? unique cyanobacteria symbiosis and CCM, this project could have agricultural implications to improve nitrogen and carbon assimilation in crop plants. Despite having the potential to address a diversity of long-standing questions in biology, research on hornworts has been limited by a lack of genetic tools. Past research using RNA-sequencing and comparative genomics has identified several candidate genes involved in cyanobacteria symbiosis and CCM, but further investigation of these candidates is limited by the lack of a reverse genetic toolkit. Gene transfer or transformation in hornworts has been demonstrated, but the efficiency is very low and results are inconsistent. The goal of this project is to establish robust transformation and gene editing methodologies in the hornwort Anthoceros agrestis. Enabling genetic research in hornworts will not only complement the other two bryophyte models (the moss Physcomitrella patens and the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha) but will also provide unprecedented opportunities to study a unique plant with unparalleled biological properties. A wide range of scientific communities will benefit, including researchers working on plant evolution, developmental genetics, paleobiology, photobiology, plant-microbe interaction, and photosynthesis.This award is co-funded by the Enabling Discovery through GEnomic tools (EDGE) Program and the Plant Genome Research Program (PGRP) in the Division of Integrated Organismal SystemsThis 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.