Collaborative Research: Linking brace root development and function in maize

美国农作物生产面临着在日益有限的土地面积和日益恶劣的环境条件下种植更多粮食的挑战。应对这一生产挑战需要新的创新，并确定新的领域，以提高植物的适应能力。这些被忽视的目标领域之一是气生根功能的优化。由于气生根在水分吸收、养分利用和锚定方面的核心作用，气生根是作物改良的一个重要领域，但人们对其了解甚少。该提案的重点是玉米（玉米），美国的头号商品作物，以及气生根发育的目标变化如何导致功能性结果。具体来说，这项研究将确定哪些根发育程序可以改变，以产生有益的农艺效果。这项基础研究的成果将有助于发展可持续的作物系统，这将提高科学知识，并有助于确保我们的粮食供应。 本科生和研究生将获得跨学科的培训，通过在实验室的研究机会，参加全国会议，并通过参加一年一度的特拉华州Ag日event.This建议的大学参与农业社区旨在确定根的发育和功能之间的基本联系使用玉米节根作为一个模型系统。只有少数基因已知改变节根的发展，他们还没有被放置在一个更大的遗传背景下，将允许理解根功能的后果。在这个建议中，鳞启动子结合蛋白（SBP）转录因子，已知的青少年到成人的相变调节器，将被用来改变和调节节根的发展和功能的结果进行分析。这一提议具体检验了“SBP基因直接调控节根发育以决定节根数量和改变根功能”的假设。使用支撑根作为节根发育的模型，研究人员将通过量化调节sbp表达的根表型结果来测试这一假设，定义节根发育的SBP调控的遗传机制，并确定这些根表型变化的功能后果。这项提案的结果将提供一个基本的了解，如何调节根的发展，可以引出有针对性的根功能outcome.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得的支持，通过评估使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

U.S. agricultural crop production faces the challenge of growing more food on increasingly limited land area and under increasingly harsh environmental conditions. Meeting this production challenge requires new innovations and the identification of new areas to target for increasing plant resilience. One of these overlooked target areas is optimization of aerial root function. Given their central role in water uptake, nutrient use, and anchorage, aerial roots are an important, yet poorly understood area for crop improvement. This proposal focuses on maize (corn), the number one commodity crop in the US, and how targeted changes in aerial root development can lead to functional outcomes. Specifically, this research will identify which root developmental programs can be altered to generate beneficial agronomic results. The outcomes of this basic research will help develop sustainable crop systems, which will enhance scientific knowledge and help secure our food supply. Undergraduate and graduate students will gain interdisciplinary training through research opportunities in the lab, attendance at national conferences, and engagement with the agricultural community through participation in the annual University of Delaware Ag Day event.This proposal aims to define the fundamental link between root development and function using maize nodal roots as a model system. There are only a few genes known to alter nodal root development and they have not been placed in a larger genetic context that will allow an understanding of root functional consequences. In this proposal, squamosa promoter binding protein (SBP) transcription factors, known regulators of the juvenile-to-adult phase transition, will be used to alter and regulate nodal root development and the functional outcomes will be analyzed. This proposal specifically tests the hypothesis that “SBP genes directly regulate nodal root development to determine nodal root number and alter root function.” Using brace roots as a model for nodal root development, the researchers will test this hypothesis by quantifying the root phenotypic outcomes of modulating sbp expression, defining the genetic mechanisms underlying SBP-regulation of nodal root development, and determining the functional consequences of these root phenotypic changes. The results from this proposal will provide a foundational understanding of how modulating root development can elicit targeted root functional outcomes.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.