Collaborative Research: RoL-Rules for Dynamic-Light Environmental Sculpting of Genomes

合作研究：基因组动态光环境塑造的 RoL 规则

• 批准号: 2034929
• 负责人: Corbin Jones
• 金额: $ 121.26万
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-06-15 至 2025-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2034929&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; RoL; Rules; Dynamic

The problem of getting a clear signal in a noisy environment is a problem that not only humans must resolve but one that all organisms in nature experience. The goal of this research is to determine the rules by which plants respond to noisy and variable light signals. The investigators hypothesize that switching between low and high levels of light over varying periods of time changes how light is detected by plants. To study this problem, grasses were chosen because grasses evolved to grow in many types of light environments such as on the forest floor where light flickering and shadows are common to open fields where the light changes very little except for clouds and time of day. The investigators hypothesize that the ability for grasses to thrive in these different light environments is encoded in their genomes. The project will examine how genomically encoded sensing adaptations to dynamic and constant light environments shapes the physiology, development, genetics, and evolution of grasses. Investigators will cross train graduate students and post-docs, especially those from underrepresented groups in state-of-the-art molecular biology, physiology and genomics. Seminars will bring together internationally recognized experts in plant ecology, evolutionary biology, plant physiology and genetics with students and scientists who want to apply these perspectives to understand how plants respond to dynamic environments. Up to 60 new post-baccalaureate analysts will participate in international training workshops. Changes in genomic elements at several scales of organization that increase the fitness of an individual are maintained while those changes that decrease fitness are counter selected for propagation. Genomic elements that are neutral to fitness are filtered away relative to the energy cost of maintaining them. These rules are well established at the scale of genes but not yet scalable to genomes. This project takes an integrative approach to this question by characterizing the full genomes of a phenotypically diverse, yet monophyletic, set of grasses from Ecuador. These grasses live in diverse habitats ranging from the Galapagos Islands, the Paramo’ (alpine tundra), the rain forest, and riparian and littoral zones. These grasses also have a wide range of habits (tillering vs vines vs. bushy vs. tree-like), autotrophic metabolism (C3 vs. C4 carbon fixation), and survival strategies (perennial vs. annual). The specific question to be addressed is what genes/alleles shape morphologies/physiologies expressed in dynamic light environments as opposed to stable light environments. This project brings together two basic disciplines: botany and genomics but extends the connections into cell biology, developmental biology, evolution, and systematics.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.

在嘈杂的环境中获得清晰信号的问题不仅是人类必须解决的问题，也是自然界所有生物都面临的问题。这项研究的目的是确定植物对嘈杂和可变光信号的反应规则。研究人员假设，在不同时间段内低强度和高强度光之间的切换会改变植物检测光的方式。为了研究这个问题，选择了草，因为草进化到可以在多种类型的光环境中生长，例如在森林地面上，光闪烁和阴影在开阔的田野上很常见，除了云和一天中的时间外，光变化很少。研究人员假设，草在这些不同的光照环境下茁壮成长的能力是在它们的基因组中编码的。该项目将研究基因组编码的传感适应动态和恒定光环境如何影响草的生理、发育、遗传学和进化。研究人员将对研究生和博士后进行交叉培训，特别是那些来自最先进的分子生物学、生理学和基因组学领域代表性不足的群体的学生和博士后。研讨会将汇集植物生态学、进化生物学、植物生理学和遗传学领域的国际知名专家，以及希望运用这些观点来了解植物如何应对动态环境的学生和科学家。 多达 60 名新的学士学位后分析师将参加国际培训研讨会。在多个组织尺度上，基因组元素的变化会增加个体的适应性，而这些变化会被保留下来，而那些降低适应性的变化则被反选用于传播。相对于维持它们的能量成本，对健康中性的基因组元素被过滤掉。 这些规则在基因尺度上已经很完善，但尚未扩展到基因组。该项目通过表征来自厄瓜多尔的一组表型多样但单系的禾本科植物的完整基因组，采用综合方法来解决这个问题。这些草生活在不同的栖息地，包括加拉帕戈斯群岛、帕拉莫（高山苔原）、雨林、河岸和沿海地区。 这些草还具有广泛的习性（分蘖、藤蔓、浓密、树状）、自养代谢（C3 与 C4 碳固定）和生存策略（多年生与一年生）。要解决的具体问题是，与稳定光环境相反，基因/等位基因塑造动态光环境中表达的形态/生理学。该项目汇集了两个基本学科：植物学和基因组学，但将联系扩展到细胞生物学、发育生物学、进化论和系统学。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Seedling Chloroplast Responses Induced by N -Linolenoylethanolamine Require Intact G-Protein Complexes

N-亚麻酰乙醇胺诱导的幼苗叶绿体反应需要完整的 G 蛋白复合物

• DOI: 10.1104/pp.19.01552
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: Plant Physiology
• 影响因子: 7.4
• 作者: Yan, Chengshi;Cannon, Ashley E.;Watkins, Justin;Keereetaweep, Jantana;Khan, Bibi Rafeiza;Jones, Alan M.;Blancaflor, Elison B.;Azad, Rajeev K.;Chapman, Kent D.
• 通讯作者: Chapman, Kent D.

Towards resolution of a paradox in plant G-protein signaling

• DOI: 10.1093/plphys/kiab534
• 发表时间: 2022-02-04
• 期刊: PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
• 影响因子: 7.4
• 作者: Ghusinga, Khem Raj;Elston, Timothy C.;Jones, Alan M.
• 通讯作者: Jones, Alan M.

Molecular switch architecture determines response properties of signaling pathways

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2013401118
• 发表时间: 2021-03-16
• 期刊: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• 影响因子: 11.1
• 作者: Ghusinga, Khem Raj;Jones, Roger D.;Elston, Timothy C.
• 通讯作者: Elston, Timothy C.