EAGER: Targeted and specific elimination of plant chromosomes

在这个快速变化和干旱的世界里，快速培育和发展适应气候的作物品种是美国国家竞争力和可持续性的必要基础。这项提议将CRISPR的基因组编辑从主要使用一个或几个基因的修改或改变，转变为一种加速育种迫切需要的基因组规模改变的新工具。这项新技术的发展可能会影响多种作物的育种，包括异源多倍体作物，如小麦、油菜籽和花生，由于它们的基因组复杂性，这些作物可能是出了名的具有挑战性，但它们是美国主食的关键成分。在外展方面，本科生和研究生将在该项目的背景下接受高级植物基因组学和分子生物学方面的培训。此外，它还将提供机会，通过面向公众，特别是面向年轻受众的出版物、演讲和/或外联视频，传播这项工作的概念、方法和社会影响，使未被充分代表的群体接触到与STEM有关的工作。这会导致个体具有特定的、理想的染色体组，例如来自给定父母的染色体组。其目的是展示和优化加入特定染色体的消除，并设计消除番茄亲本染色体集的工程，有效地导致单倍体诱导。利用拟南芥模型和作物番茄，这项工作涉及到开发识别加入和染色体特异性CRISPR靶标的方法，快速验证这些靶标，以及设计基因和核型特异性驱动。通过有针对性地消除染色体(TEC)对作物基因组进行基因组规模的改变，可能会使单倍体诱导、异源多倍体基因组操作以及在杂交后代中选择特定的基因组范围单倍型配置的广泛应用成为可能。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。

In this rapidly changing and drying world, the rapid breeding and development of climate-adapted crop varieties is a necessary foundation of US national competitiveness and sustainability. This proposal takes genome editing by CRISPR from its preponderant use of modification or alteration of one or few genes, to a novel tool for genome-scale alterations that are urgently needed to accelerate breeding. The development of this novel technology can impact the breeding of multiple crops, including allopolyploid ones, such as wheat, canola, and peanut, that can be notoriously challenging due to their genomic complexity, but are critical components of US’s staple foods. In terms of outreach, undergraduate and graduate students will be trained in advanced plant genomics and molecular biology in the context of this project. Additionally, it will provide opportunities for exposing underrepresented groups to STEM-related work through dissemination of the concepts, methods and societal implications of this work through publications, presentations and / or outreach videos geared towards the general public and, specifically, younger audiences.The strategy entails targeting CRISPR to hand-picked sets of chromosomal sequences, so that “immune” chromosomes survive, while targeted chromosomes are eliminated. This results in individuals with specific, desirable chromosome sets, such as those from a given parent. The objectives are to demonstrate and optimize accession-specific chromosome elimination and to engineer elimination of a parental chromosome set in tomato, effectively resulting in haploid induction. Using both the model arabidopsis and the crop tomato, the work involves development of methods for identification of accession- and chromosome-specific CRISPR targets, for rapid validation of these targets, and for engineering of genotype- and karyotype-specific drives. Genome-scale alterations of crop genomes through Targeted Elimination of Chromosomes (TEC), could potentially enable broad application of haploid induction, manipulation of allopolyploid genome, and selection of specific genome-wide haplotypic configurations in hybrid progeny.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.