EAGER: Investigating plant thermomorphogenesis using innovative miniature devices

EAGER：使用创新的微型设备研究植物热形态发生

• 批准号: 2200200
• 负责人: YONGJIAN QIU
• 金额: $ 29.97万
• 依托单位: University of Mississippi
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2200200&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Investigating; plant; thermomorphogenesis; using

Global climate change has generated significant fluctuations in ambient growth temperature, which profoundly influences diverse developmental, physiological, and morphological responses in plants, including rapid stem and root elongation, enhanced leafstalk growth and upward leaf bending, and early flowering. Understanding how plants adjust their developmental programs in response to temperature variations is central to improve plant fitness and sustain crop productivity. Most temperature signaling mechanisms were revealed at the whole-plant level, which averages distinct organ and cell types and thus inadvertently creates a one-size-fits-all illusion of proposed thermal sensing and response mechanisms. The proposed experiments are aimed at developing a novel miniature device to study thermal sensing and responses at the organ and cell levels. This new technology allows accurate induction and monitoring of thermal changes in a specific organ, tissue, or cell, making it possible to differentiate distinct thermal responses in various organs and cell types, and unveil the communication mechanisms between different organs and cell layers during coordinated thermal responses. The technology, not yet developed so is potentially risky in execution, is expected to be high reward because it will revolutionize research on thermal sensing and responses in various multicellular organisms and unicellular colonials. This knowledge can be used to advance our understanding of how global warming affects plant growth and development and provide the knowledge basis that may facilitate scientists to generate climate-smart crops. The project also offers opportunities in interdisciplinary research training for students of underrepresented groups.The investigators of this collaborative project plan to use thermoresponsive hypocotyl (the embryonic stem) and root growth in the dicotyledonous plant Arabidopsis thaliana as a model to establish the Miniature heater-assisted thermomorphogenetic study (Miheats). The project comprises three components. First, a novel manufacturing technique will be developed to produce low-cost, self-designed miniature heaters that are scalable, durable, and flexible. Next, Miheats will be implemented in planta and a series of phenotypic and genetic analyses of Arabidopsis seedlings will be performed to evaluate the technical outcomes of Miheats. Finally, transcriptomic and proteomic analyses will be employed to identify co-regulated gene and protein modules in different organs/cells and unveil the homogeneity and heterogeneity of organ- and cell-specific thermomorphogenetic signaling. Therefore, the project addresses Understanding the Rules of Life and grows Convergence Research by infusing advances in micro/nanofabrication and minimally invasive approaches to create a new solver for investigating organ/cell-autonomous and -nonautonomous reactions as well as interorgan and intercellular communications in response to temperature fluctuations in multi-cellular organisms. Further, this high risk / high reward project will improve the Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education core competencies, especially the ability to tap into the interdisciplinary nature of science and the ability to communicate and collaborate with other disciplines, of underrepresented minority students at the University of Mississippi.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.

全球气候变化引起环境温度的显著波动，深刻影响植物的多种发育、生理和形态反应，包括茎和根的快速伸长，叶柄生长和叶片向上弯曲增强，以及开花提前。了解植物如何调整其发育程序以响应温度变化是提高植物适应性和维持作物生产力的核心。大多数温度信号机制都是在整个植物水平上发现的，这平均了不同的器官和细胞类型，因此无意中产生了一种适用于所有提出的热传感和反应机制的错觉。该实验旨在开发一种新型微型装置，用于研究器官和细胞水平的热传感和反应。这项新技术可以精确地诱导和监测特定器官、组织或细胞的热变化，使区分不同器官和细胞类型的不同热反应成为可能，并揭示在协调热反应过程中不同器官和细胞层之间的通信机制。该技术尚未开发，因此在执行中存在潜在风险，预计将获得高回报，因为它将彻底改变各种多细胞生物和单细胞菌落的热传感和反应研究。这些知识可以用来促进我们对全球变暖如何影响植物生长和发育的理解，并为科学家培育气候智能型作物提供知识基础。该项目还为代表性不足群体的学生提供跨学科研究培训的机会。本合作项目的研究人员计划以双子叶植物拟南芥（Arabidopsis thaliana）的热响应性下胚轴（胚茎）和根生长为模型，建立微型加热器辅助热形态发生研究（miheat）。该项目由三个部分组成。首先，将开发一种新的制造技术来生产低成本、自行设计的微型加热器，这种加热器可扩展、耐用、灵活。接下来，我们将在植物上实施miheat，并对拟南芥幼苗进行一系列表型和遗传分析，以评估miheat的技术成果。最后，转录组学和蛋白质组学分析将用于鉴定不同器官/细胞中共调控的基因和蛋白质模块，并揭示器官和细胞特异性热形态发生信号的同质性和异质性。因此，该项目致力于理解生命规则，并通过注入微/纳米制造和微创方法的进步来发展融合研究，为研究多细胞生物中温度波动下的器官/细胞自主和非自主反应以及器官间和细胞间通信创造新的解决方案。此外，这个高风险/高回报的项目将提高密西西比大学少数族裔学生的“本科生物学教育的愿景和变化”核心竞争力，特别是挖掘科学的跨学科性质以及与其他学科交流和合作的能力。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。

项目成果

Direct Writing of Microheater for Studying Plant Thermal Biology

• DOI: 10.1016/j.mfglet.2023.08.090
• 发表时间: 2023-10-08
• 期刊: MANUFACTURING LETTERS
• 影响因子: 3.9
• 作者: Jiang，Qingrui;Bajracharya，Abhishesh;Han，Yiwei
• 通讯作者: Han，Yiwei

PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR 4/HEMERA-mediated thermosensory growth requires the Mediator subunit MED14.

• DOI: 10.1093/plphys/kiac412
• 发表时间: 2022-11-28
• 期刊: PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
• 影响因子: 7.4
• 作者: Bajracharya, Abhishesh;Xi, Jing;Grace, Karlie F.;Bayer, Eden E.;Grant, Chloe A.;Clutton, Caroline H.;Baerson, Scott R.;Agarwal, Ameeta K.;Qiu, Yongjian
• 通讯作者: Qiu, Yongjian