NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Plant plasticity in response to climatic variability and drought stress

这一行动资助了NSF 2023财年生物学博士后研究奖学金，扩大了生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。该研究金支持一项针对该研究员的研究和培训计划，该计划将增加生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。这项研究试图了解植物耐旱性背后的生物学机制，并将促进对植物种群适应干旱能力的了解。这一点很重要，因为随着气候变暖，干旱变得更加普遍。这位研究员将通过评估整个植物的变化来检查植物的反应，这些变化包括地上结构和根部结构，这些变化可以防止脱水。目前对这些反应知之甚少，这使得这项研究对于了解植物对未来气候的脆弱性至关重要。除了科学研究，该研究员还将评估美国长期生态研究站的可及性，以创建一个可进行可访问实地工作的地点数据库。这将帮助残疾研究人员确定他们可以在哪里参与实地工作。这位研究员还将对车站领导进行有关残疾问题的教育，并提供潜在的改进途径。地理范围大的种群通常占据不同的环境，这使他们成为研究气候变化适应差异的极佳候选者。黄猴花Mimulus guttatus是研究植物适应性的模式生物，该物种将被用来评估赋予种群耐旱性或脆弱性的遗传和表型差异。来自全范围种群的含羞草种子将在普通温室环境中种植，并暴露在潮湿或干燥的处理下。植物生活史和光合作用表现的时间将被广泛描述，不同处理的暴露将允许评估这些特征的可塑性。一组植物将在琼脂中生长，以评估根系对干旱胁迫的适应，检查结构和细胞结构。将在整个发育阶段收集根和叶组织，并使用RNA-SEQ分析基因表达的差异，以帮助解释干旱反应的调节。在更稳定的中原地区发现的种群可能比来自更干燥或更易变的气候的种群更不适应干旱。这位研究员将在植物生理学、进化遗传学和系统基因组学专家的协作环境中接受培训。该研究员还将就与该项目相关的独立研究向本科生提供建议。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2023, Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology. The Fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. This research seeks to understand the biological mechanisms behind drought tolerance in plants and will advance knowledge about the ability of plant populations to adapt to drought. This is important because as the climate warms, drought becomes more common. The Fellow will examine plant responses by assessing changes in whole plants, both structures above the ground and in the roots, that can prevent dehydration. Little is currently known about these responses, which makes this vital research for understanding plant vulnerability to future climates. In addition to the scientific research, the Fellow will assess the accessibility of long-term ecological research stations in the United States to create a database of sites where accessible fieldwork can be performed. This will assist disabled researchers to determine where they can participate in fieldwork. The Fellow will also educate station leaders around disability issues and provide potential avenues for improvements. Populations with large geographical ranges generally occupy diverse environments, making them excellent candidates for studying adaptive differences to climatic variability. Mimulus guttatus, yellow monkeyflower, is a model organism for examining plant adaptation and this species will be used to assess genetic and phenotypic differences that confer drought tolerance or vulnerability across populations. Seeds of Mimulus guttatus from range-wide populations will be grown in a common greenhouse environment and exposed to wet or dry treatments. The timing of life history and photosynthetic performance of plants will be broadly characterized, and the exposure of different treatments will allow for the assessment of plasticity of these traits. A subset of plants will be grown in agar to assess root-level adaptation to drought stress, examining architecture and cellular structure. Root and leaf tissues will be collected throughout developmental stages and analyzed for differences in genetic expression using RNA-seq to help explain drought response modulation. Populations that are found in more stable mesic areas will likely be less drought-adapted than populations from drier or more variable climates. The Fellow will be trained in a collaborative environment from experts in plant physiology, evolutionary genetics, and phylogenomics. The Fellow will also advise undergraduate students on independent research related to this project.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.