BRC-BIO: Deciphering the roles of RNA modifications in regulating responses to abiotic stresses in cereal crops

据预测，全球气候变化将增加恶劣天气事件的发生率，包括干旱和热应激。世界各地已经在经历气候变化的负面影响。这种非生物胁迫事件正在并将继续对全球作物生产产生不利影响。因此，发展和实施气候智慧型农业是当务之急，而开发适应气候变化的作物是迄今为止气候智慧型农业倡议的最重要组成部分。这需要对控制植物反应的分子机制有广泛的了解。在各种作物品种中，谷类作物最为重要，因为它们是食物和动物饲料的主要来源。在当前的项目中，高粱作为禾本科植物家族的一员，是一种非生物抗逆性的谷物和生物能源作物，将被用作模型系统，以确定对非生物胁迫反应的调节新机制，并揭示这些机制之间的相互作用。此外，还将确定提高谷类作物耐旱性和/或耐热性的新目标。与此同时，目前的项目将为来自主要为少数民族服务的机构的代表性不足的学生提供生物技术和基因组学领域的直接实践培训。该项目还将培养尖端基因组学和生物技术方面的研究生和博士后研究学者。近年来，谷类作物对非生物胁迫的转录调控研究取得了重大进展。然而，对基因表达的其他调节模式的研究，如对非生物胁迫的各种RNA修饰，仍处于起步阶段。测序技术和基因组学的最新进展允许在不同模式的mRNA修饰之间进行直接比较。目前的项目将破译不同模式的mRNA修饰之间的相互作用，以应对非生物胁迫，并揭示其对mRNA功能的影响，包括那些由小rna介导和mRNA稳定性。将确定对干旱和热胁迫反应的共性和独特性，这将为开发适应未来气候变化的谷类作物奠定基础。高粱是一种主要的谷类作物，广泛用作食品、动物饲料和生物能源作物，将被用作模型系统。高粱是一种极具抗逆性的物种，因此从这个项目中获得的结果可以用来赋予其他易受胁迫的物种抗逆性，包括玉米、水稻和小麦。目前的项目还将帮助来自主要为少数民族服务的研究所的一名早期职业首席研究员的能力建设。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。

Global climate change is predicted to increase the incidence of adverse weather events, including spells of drought and heat stress. Different parts of the world are already experiencing the negative impacts of climate change. Events of such abiotic stresses are and will continue to adversely affect global crop production. Thus, developing and implementing climate-smart agriculture is the need of the hour, and developing climate-resilient crop plants is by far the most important component of climate-smart agriculture initiatives. This requires extensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms that govern responses in plants. Among various crop species, cereal crops are of paramount importance, as they are the primary source of food and animal feed. In the current project, sorghum, a member of the grass family that is an abiotic stress-resilient cereal and bioenergy crop, will be used as a model system to identify novel mechanisms of the regulation of responses to abiotic stresses and to unravel interactions among such mechanisms. Additionally, new targets for improving drought and/or heat tolerance in cereal crops will be identified. Along with that, the current project will provide direct hands-on training to underrepresented students from a predominantly minority-serving institution in the areas of biotechnology and genomics. The project will also train graduate students and postdoctoral research scholars in cutting-edge genomics and biotechnology.In recent years significant progress has been made in deciphering transcriptional regulation of responses to abiotic stresses in cereal crops. However, research on other modes of regulation of gene expression, such as various RNA modifications in responses to abiotic stresses, remains in its infancy. Recent advancements in sequencing technologies and genomics allow direct comparison among different modes of mRNA modifications. The current project will decipher the interplay among different modes of mRNA modifications in response to abiotic stresses and unravel their effects on mRNA functionality, including those that are mediated by small RNAs and mRNA stability. Commonalities and uniqueness among responses to drought and heat stress will be identified and this will lay the foundation for developing cereal crops adapted to future climatic changes. Sorghum bicolor, a major cereal crop, which is extensively used as a food, animal feed, and bioenergy crop, will be used as the model system. Sorghum is an extremely stress-tolerant species, hence results obtained from this project can be used to impart stress tolerance in other stress-susceptible species, including maize, rice, and wheat. The current project will also help in the capacity building of an early career principal investigator from a primarily minority-serving institute.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.