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

这项研究旨在对苔藓植物的一个独特谱系--角藻进行基因功能研究。这项工作的结果将有助于研究角藻通过与蓝藻共生固定氮的特殊方式，以及使用专门的碳浓缩机制(CCM)固定碳的特殊方式。角藻对于理解植物进化中的重大转变也是至关重要的，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。在这项研究中开发的基因转化和基因编辑工具将广泛和迅速地传播给科学界。将举办研讨会和研讨会，以建立一个蓬勃发展的金鱼草社区，并提供有关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，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，学习植物组织培养、湿法实验室实验和生物信息学。最后，通过使基因研究能够调查角藻？独特的蓝藻共生和CCM，该项目可能对改善作物对氮和碳的同化具有农业意义。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，对角藻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相关的候选基因，但由于缺乏反向遗传工具箱，对这些候选基因的进一步研究受到限制。基因转移或基因转化已被证实，但效率很低，结果不一致。该项目的目标是在金鱼草中建立健壮的转化和基因编辑方法。对角藻进行基因研究，不仅是对其他两种苔藓植物模型(苔藓和地钱草)的补充，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。该奖项由通过基因组工具实现发现计划(EDGE)和集成组织系统部门的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。

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.