NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Correlating Maize Metabolic and Phenotypic Responses to Heat Stress ...

NSF 生物学博士后奖学金 2021 财年：将玉米代谢和表型反应与热应激相关联......

• 批准号: 2109387
• 负责人: Katherine Murphy
• 金额: $ 21.6万
• 依托单位: Murphy, Katherine Marie
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2109387&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; FY

This action funds an NSF Plant Genome Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow who also presents a plan to broaden participation in biology. The title of the research and training plan for this fellowship to Katherine Murphy is "Correlating Maize Metabolic and Phenotypic Responses to Heat Stress for a Mechanistic Understanding of Plant Temperature Stress Tolerance". The host institution for the fellowship is the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and the sponsoring scientists are Dr. Malia Gehan and Dr. Doug Allen.Maize, also known as corn, is the most important crop in the USA, and contributes significantly to diets world-wide. As global temperatures rise and become more erratic, it is essential that we have crops that can grow under less-than-ideal conditions in order to feed a growing global population. High temperatures, in particular, affects plants’ ability to grow and reduces crop yields. In this project, the investigators will better understand the fundamental processes occurring in plants under high temperatures. To do so, they will investigate the molecules in corn and how they change over the course of growth at high temperatures, as well as how the whole-plant growth changes using plant images, known as high-throughput phenotyping. They will compare corn varieties that grow well or poorly under high temperatures. This will provide foundational knowledge for breeding and engineering next-generation crops of the future, especially corn. This project will also provide training to the investigator as a postdoctoral associate to develop her into a leader in agriculture. An associated outreach project will take data from this project for a course module for community college students in St. Louis, MO, to gain a valuable research experience. As both a model plant species and important crop, maize (Zea mays) represents a wealth of genetic resources and opportunities for crop improvement. In the face of a growing population and a warming climate, it is essential to understand the fundamental maize response to heat stress in order to maintain and increase crop yields. However, the cellular-level molecular mechanisms underlying the maize heat stress response, and importantly how some maize lines are more resilient to heat stress, are poorly understood. The objective of this project is to determine: What metabolites and their flux are affected by heat stress, and how do these metabolic hallmarks correlate to whole-plant heat stress phenotypes? First, a model maize line of short generation time and stature, Mini Maize, will be analyzed under heat stress conditions using carbon isotope labeling and high-throughput phenotyping. This will address hypotheses that heat stress is realized and mitigated through potential changes in light harvesting, photosynthesis, molecular shunts, small molecule antioxidants, and possibly photorespiration. Coupling this data to whole-plant phenotype, such as biomass and leaf damage, will provide metabolic hallmarks for large-scale heat damage. Next, this research will expand upon these techniques to investigate maize varieties previously characterized as tolerant and susceptible to heat stress. This will provide metabolic markers for heat stress tolerance, as well as provide mechanistic insight into plant stress resilience, such as through a hypothesized increase in flux to small molecule antioxidants. This project will provide important foundations for informing plant breeding and engineering efforts towards resilient crops.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.

该行动为2021财年的NSF植物基因组博士后生物学研究奖学金提供资金。该研究金支持研究员在东道实验室的研究和培训计划，研究员还提出了扩大生物学参与的计划。凯瑟琳墨菲的研究和培训计划的标题是“玉米对热胁迫的代谢和表型反应的相关性，以了解植物温度胁迫耐受性的机理”。该奖学金的主办机构是唐纳德·丹佛斯植物科学中心，赞助科学家是马利亚·格汉博士和道格·艾伦博士。玉米，也被称为玉米，是美国最重要的作物，对世界各地的饮食做出了重大贡献。随着全球气温上升，变得更加不稳定，我们必须拥有能够在不太理想的条件下生长的作物，以养活不断增长的全球人口。特别是高温会影响植物的生长能力，降低作物产量。在这个项目中，研究人员将更好地了解高温下植物中发生的基本过程。为此，他们将研究玉米中的分子，以及它们在高温下生长过程中的变化，以及使用植物图像（称为高通量表型分析）来研究整株植物生长的变化。他们将比较在高温下生长良好或不良的玉米品种。这将为未来下一代作物的育种和工程设计提供基础知识，特别是玉米。该项目还将为研究员提供博士后培训，使其成为农业领域的领导者。一个相关的推广项目将从该项目中获取数据，用于密苏里州圣路易斯社区大学学生的课程模块，以获得宝贵的研究经验。玉米作为模式植物和重要作物，代表着丰富的遗传资源和作物改良的机会。面对不断增长的人口和气候变暖，了解玉米对热胁迫的基本反应，以保持和提高作物产量是至关重要的。然而，玉米热胁迫反应的细胞水平分子机制，以及重要的是一些玉米品系如何对热胁迫更具弹性，知之甚少。该项目的目的是确定：什么代谢产物和它们的流量受到热胁迫的影响，以及这些代谢标志如何与整株热胁迫表型相关？首先，将在热胁迫条件下使用碳同位素标记和高通量表型分析世代时间和身材短的模式玉米品系Mini Maize。这将解决热应激是通过光捕获、光合作用、分子分流、小分子抗氧化剂和可能的光呼吸的潜在变化来实现和减轻的假设。将这些数据与全植物表型（如生物量和叶片损伤）相结合，将为大规模热损伤提供代谢标志。接下来，本研究将扩展这些技术，以调查以前被认为是耐受和易受热胁迫的玉米品种。这将提供热胁迫耐受性的代谢标志物，以及提供对植物胁迫恢复力的机制性洞察，例如通过假设的小分子抗氧化剂通量的增加。该项目将为植物育种和适应性作物的工程努力提供重要的基础。该奖项反映了NSF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。