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

EDGE TT：开发 Anthoceros agrestis 的转化能力，以促进金鱼藻（一种非凡的植物门）的基因功能研究

• 批准号: 1923011
• 负责人: Fay-Wei Li
• 金额: $ 54.84万
• 依托单位: Boyce Thompson Institute Plant Research
• 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: 2019-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1923011&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EDGE; TT; Developing; transformation; capacity

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.

这项研究旨在对苔藓植物的独特谱系——金鱼藻（Anthocerophyta）进行基因功能研究。这项工作的成果将有助于研究金鱼藻通过与蓝藻共生固氮并使用专门的碳浓缩机制（CCM）固碳的特殊方式。金鱼草对于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。这项研究中开发的遗传转化和基因编辑工具将广泛而迅速地传播给科学界。将举办研讨会和讲习班，以建立一个繁荣的金鱼草社区，并提供金鱼草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，还将指导三名本科生。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，通过基因研究来研究金鱼藻？独特的蓝藻共生和 CCM，该项目可能对改善农作物的氮和碳同化具有农业影响。尽管有潜力解决生物学中长期存在的各种问题，但金鱼草的研究因缺乏遗传工具而受到限制。过去使用RNA测序和比较基因组学的研究已经确定了几个参与蓝藻共生和CCM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。金鱼藻中的基因转移或转化已得到证实，但效率非常低且结果不一致。该项目的目标是在金鱼草 Anthoceros agrestis 中建立强大的转化和基因编辑方法。金鱼藻的基因研究不仅可以补充其他两种苔藓植物模型（苔藓小立碗藓和地钱地钱），而且还为研究具有无与伦比的生物特性的独特植物提供了前所未有的机会。广泛的科学界将受益，包括从事植物进化、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。该奖项由综合有机系统部门的通过基因组工具实现发现 (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，并被视为 值得通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。