CAREER: Mechanisms and consequences of Genotype by Environment interaction in a model grass

职业：模型草中基因型与环境相互作用的机制和后果

• 批准号: 2239070
• 负责人: David Des Marais
• 金额: $ 149万
• 依托单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-06-01 至 2028-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2239070&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Mechanisms; consequences; Genotype; Environment

Solar energy captured by plants is the central currency of life on Earth. Through a set of elegant chemical reactions, plants use solar energy to power the conversion of atmospheric carbon dioxide into stable sugars. These organic compounds, in turn, are used by the plant for growth and reproduction. Plant growth and reproductive output feed the world, and plant metabolism is a key determinant of atmospheric composition. Understanding how these three fundamental activities – growth, metabolism, and reproduction -- are controlled by genes and the environment is a fundamental challenge for science to ensure the resilience of ecological and agricultural systems. This project uses a model grass species, Brachypodium distachyon, to disentangle the complex interactions between plant genetics and environment. There are three broad aims. First, to study the genetic basis of plant response to several environmental stressors to ask whether certain combinations of plant traits might be difficult to achieve over evolutionary time scales, or during breeding for crops. Second, to use genomics to identify specific genes – and interactions among genes – which control plant response to environmental stress. Finally, to study whether and how plants buffer the potentially destabilizing effects of environmental stress on their growth. These research aims will be complemented and expanded by developing a new undergraduate laboratory class, representing the first dedicated plant biology class at MIT. In this class, students will design and perform experiments exploring plant biochemistry, development, and responses to climate change.This project investigates the molecular, physiological, and developmental basis of genotype by environment interaction, GxE. GxE is the observation that genetically distinct individuals respond to environmental cues in different ways. The project leverages the considerable genetic and genomic resources in the model grass species Brachypodium distachyon towards three specific aims. First, to ask how allelic function in one environment relates to functions in a second environment and whether genetic correlations between two environments might constrain organismal response to novel or challenging environments. These experiments use quantitative genetic approaches to understand the genetic architecture of environmentally responsive traits. Next, to investigate how interactions among genes at the molecular level shapes GxE, asking whether GxE in the transcript abundance of individual genes drives GxE in gene regulatory networks. Finally, to decompose the drivers of Relative Growth Rate to ask how genetic and environmental perturbations in key traits are (or are not) buffered to maintain stable RGR. These research aims will be complemented and extended by two educational aims. To develop the first stand-alone plant science class at MIT and introduce students to data generation and analysis in plants. This course specifically asks students to describe now genetics and the environment interact to produce phenotypic diversity, and the data generated will be used directly in the research aims of this project. In the second education aim, a field-based learning experience in Boston’s Arnold Arboretum will be developed for students to observe and interpret trait diversity in plants.This award was co-funded by the Plant Genome Research Program.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.

被植物捕获的太阳能是地球上生命的核心货币。通过一系列优雅的化学反应，植物利用太阳能将大气中的二氧化碳转化为稳定的糖。这些有机化合物反过来又被植物用于生长和繁殖。植物的生长和繁殖为全世界提供食物，植物的新陈代谢是大气成分的关键决定因素。了解这三种基本活动--生长、新陈代谢和生殖--如何受到基因和环境的控制，是科学确保生态和农业系统恢复力的根本挑战。该项目使用模式草种二穗短柄草来解开植物遗传学与环境之间复杂的相互作用。有三大目标。首先，研究植物对几种环境压力的反应的遗传基础，以询问植物性状的某些组合是否难以在进化时间尺度上或在作物育种期间实现。第二，利用基因组学来确定控制植物对环境胁迫反应的特定基因以及基因之间的相互作用。最后，研究植物是否以及如何缓冲环境胁迫对其生长的潜在不稳定影响。这些研究目标将通过开发一个新的本科实验室课程来补充和扩展，这是麻省理工学院第一个专门的植物生物学课程。在本课程中，学生将设计并进行实验，探索植物生物化学，发育和对气候变化的反应。本项目研究基因型与环境相互作用（GxE）的分子，生理和发育基础。GxE是观察到遗传上不同的个体以不同的方式对环境线索做出反应。该项目利用模式草种二穗短柄草中的大量遗传和基因组资源，实现三个具体目标。首先，询问一种环境中的等位基因功能如何与第二种环境中的功能相关，以及两种环境之间的遗传相关性是否可能限制生物体对新的或具有挑战性的环境的反应。这些实验使用定量遗传方法来了解环境响应性状的遗传结构。接下来，为了研究基因之间的相互作用如何在分子水平上塑造GxE，询问单个基因的转录丰度中的GxE是否在基因调控网络中驱动GxE。最后，分解相对生长率的驱动因素，以了解关键性状中的遗传和环境扰动如何被（或不被）缓冲以保持稳定的RGR。这些研究目标将由两个教育目标来补充和扩展。在麻省理工学院开设第一个独立的植物科学课程，向学生介绍植物数据的生成和分析。本课程特别要求学生描述现在遗传学和环境相互作用产生表型多样性，所产生的数据将直接用于本项目的研究目标。在第二个教育目标中，将在波士顿阿诺德植物园为学生提供基于实地的学习体验，以观察和解释植物的性状多样性。该奖项由植物基因组研究计划共同资助。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。