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

这项研究的目的是使基因功能的研究，金鱼藻（花角藻），一个独特的谱系brandites。这项工作的结果将有助于研究金鱼藻通过与蓝藻共生来固定氮的特殊方式，并使用专门的碳浓缩机制（CCM）来固定碳。角苔对于了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一步，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、迅速地传播给科学界。将举办一个研讨会和一个讲习班，以建立一个繁荣的金鱼藻社区，并提供金鱼藻研究工具的实践经验。此外，通过博伊斯汤普森研究所暑期实习计划，三名本科生将得到指导。实习生将能够利用该项目的综合性，学习植物组织培养，湿实验室实验和生物信息学。最后，通过使遗传研究能够调查金鱼藻？通过独特的蓝藻共生和CCM，该项目可能对农业产生影响，以改善作物的氮和碳同化。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，对金鱼藻的研究受到限制。过去的研究使用RNA测序和比较基因组学已经确定了几个候选基因参与蓝藻共生和CCM，但这些候选人的进一步调查是有限的缺乏一个反向遗传工具包。在金鱼藻中的基因转移或转化已经被证明，但效率很低，结果不一致。该项目的目标是在金鱼藻Anthoceros agrestis中建立强大的转化和基因编辑方法。在金鱼藻中进行遗传研究不仅可以补充其他两种brandite模型（苔藓小立碗藓和地钱），而且还将为研究具有无与伦比的生物学特性的独特植物提供前所未有的机会。广泛的科学界将受益，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、该奖项由通过基因组工具进行发现（EDGE）计划和植物基因组研究计划（PGRP）共同资助该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

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.