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生产更多粮食的挑战。应对这一生产挑战需要新的创新和确定新的目标领域，以提高植物的适应能力。其中一个被忽视的目标领域是空气根函数的优化。鉴于气生根在水分吸收、养分利用和锚固方面的核心作用，气生根是作物改良的一个重要领域，但人们对其了解甚少。该提案的重点是美国第一大商品作物玉米（玉米），以及气生根发育的针对性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系发育程序可以改变，以产生有益的农艺结果。这项基础研究的成果将有助于发展可持续作物系统，这将增强科学知识并帮助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，通过实验室的研究机会，参加国家会议，并通过参加一年一度的特拉华大学农业日活动与农业社区接触。本研究旨在以玉米节根为模型系统，定义根系发育与功能之间的基本联系。只有少数基因已知可以改变结根发育，而且它们还没有被置于更大的遗传背景中，这将使我们能够理解根功能的后果。在本研究中，我们将利用鳞状植物启动子结合蛋白（SBP）转录因子来改变和调节鳞状植物的节根发育，并分析其功能结果。这一提议特别验证了“SBP基因直接调控节根发育，决定节根数量，改变根功能”的假说。研究人员将以支撑根作为节点根发育的模型，通过量化调节sbp表达的根表型结果，定义sbp调控节点根发育的遗传机制，并确定这些根表型变化的功能后果，来验证这一假设。这一建议的结果将提供一个基本的理解如何调节根的发育可以引发目标的根功能结果。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.