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来提高工厂的恢复能力。这些被忽视的目标领域之一是气生根功能的优化。鉴于其在吸水、养分利用和固定方面的核心作用，气生根是作物改良的一个重要但人们知之甚少的领域。该提案重点关注美国第一大商品作物玉米（玉米），以及气生根发育的有针对性的改变如何带来功能性结果。具体来说，这项研究将确定可以改变哪些根部发育程序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作物系统，从而增强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、参加全国会议以及通过参加特拉华大学一年一度的农业日活动与农业社区接触来获得跨学科培训。该提案旨在使用玉米节根作为模型系统来定义根发育和功能之间的基本联系。已知只有少数基因可以改变节根发育，并且尚未将它们置于更大的遗传背景中以了解根功能后果。在该提案中，鳞状启动子结合蛋白（SBP）转录因子（幼年期到成年期的已知调节因子）将用于改变和调节节根发育，并对功能结果进行分析。该提案特别检验了“SBP 基因直接调节节根发育以确定节根数量并改变根功能”的假设。研究人员将利用支撑根作为节根发育的模型，通过量化调节 sbp 表达的根表型结果、定义节根发育的 SBP 调节的遗传机制以及确定这些根表型变化的功能后果来检验这一假设。该提案的结果将为调节根部发育如何引发有针对性的根部功能结果提供基础性的了解。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。

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.