Collaborative Research: Linking brace root development and function in maize

美国农业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和确定新的领域，以提高植物的抗逆性。其中一个被忽视的目标领域是气生根功能的优化。鉴于气生根在水分吸收、养分利用和锚定中的核心作用，气生根是作物改良的一个重要领域，但人们对此知之甚少。该提案侧重于玉米(玉米)，这是美国头号大宗商品作物，以及气生根发育的有针对性的变化如何导致功能结果。具体地说，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结果。这项基础研究的成果将有助于开发可持续的作物系统，这将提高科学知识，并有助于确保我们的粮食供应。本科生和研究生将通过在实验室的研究机会，参加国家会议，以及通过参加每年一度的特拉华大学农业日活动与农业社区接触，获得跨学科培训。这项提议旨在以玉米节根为模式系统，确定根系发育和功能之间的基本联系。只有几个已知的基因可以改变节根的发育，而且它们还没有被放在一个更大的遗传背景下，这将允许理解根的功能后果。在这项建议中，鳞状病毒启动子结合蛋白(SBP)转录因子，已知的幼虫到成体阶段转换的调节者，将被用来改变和调节节根的发育，并将对功能结果进行分析。这一建议特别检验了“SBP基因直接调节节根发育以决定节根数量和改变根功能”的假说。使用支撑根作为节根发育的模型，研究人员将通过量化调控SBP表达的根表型结果，定义调控节根发育的SBP背后的遗传机制，并确定这些根表型变化的功能后果来检验这一假设。这项提案的结果将为调节根系发育如何产生目标根功能结果提供一个基础性的理解。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。

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.