Bilateral NSF/BIO-BBSRC: Modelling Light Control of Development

双边 NSF/BIO-BBSRC：发育的光控制建模

• 批准号: BB/M025551/1
• 负责人: Karen Halliday
• 金额: $ 56.18万
• 依托单位: University of Edinburgh
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2015 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FM025551%2F1
• 关键词: Bilateral; NSF; BIO; BBSRC; Modelling

Changes in the light environment, caused by encroaching vegetation or seasonal progression, can alter the course of development leading to a wide variety of plant architectures. This developmental "plasticity", is a defining characteristic of plants and a prerequisite for survival, allowing adaptation to an environment in flux. Adaptive responses to nearby vegetation are often crucial in the natural environment but costly in terms of yield in a field crop. Indeed, the ability to control crop architecture in dense canopy field conditions is a priority for plant breeders. Speaking to this need, the outputs from this project will generate novel targets and predictive tools that can be used to improve plant architecture in vegetation rich environments. The project aims to fill a knowledge gap: even though light constantly tunes plant development it is still unclear how this is executed at the cellular and molecular levels. A principal aim will be to establish how light signalling is coupled to development providing the first detailed understanding of how light drives plant growth plasticity. Plants continue to grow and develop through their life cycle and so have to maintain an active stem cell pool. In the shoot, stem cells reside in the "meristem" which is located at the shoot apex. New organ (e.g. leaf) production is controlled by a suite of developmental genes that act at the shoot apex. Our earlier work and that of others showed that light controls the rate of leaf production, leaf size and morphology, suggesting light regulates meristem function. More recently we have uncovered molecular evidence that strongly reinforces this proposition. The research programme aims to delineate the molecular path from light activated signal transduction to organogenesis, providing the first account of how light directs development. To help resolve molecular connections, that may be intricate, we will employ an integrated modelling and experimental regime. This is possible as we have already developed light signalling model framework that can be extended to incorporate meristem genes. Model simulation of different pathway structures will allow us to predict new molecular connections that can be tested in the lab. This iterative process will facilitate and improve the accuracy of pathway assembly. The model will help us to determine how different light regimes alter pathway dynamics and development, providing a system level understanding of pathway behaviour. An important outcome will be the production of a developmental plasticity model with predictive capabilities: an invaluable resource for crop improvement programmes. Model development also represents an important step toward our future aim to construct a virtual plant.

由植被侵蚀或季节变化引起的光环境变化可能会改变植物的发展进程，导致各种各样的植物结构。这种发育的“可塑性”是植物的一个决定性特征，也是植物生存的先决条件，使其能够适应不断变化的环境。对附近植被的适应性反应在自然环境中往往是至关重要的，但就大田作物的产量而言，这是代价高昂的。事实上，在密植的冠层条件下控制作物结构的能力是植物育种者的优先事项。就这一需求而言，该项目的成果将产生新的目标和预测工具，可用于改善植被丰富环境中的植物结构。该项目旨在填补一个知识空白：尽管光不断地调节植物的发育，但仍然不清楚这是如何在细胞和分子水平上执行的。一个主要的目标将是建立光信号如何与发育相结合，从而提供对光如何驱动植物生长可塑性的首次详细了解。植物在整个生命周期中继续生长和发育，因此必须保持活跃的干细胞库。在枝条中，干细胞存在于位于枝尖的“分生组织”中。新器官(如叶子)的产生受一套在顶端起作用的发育基因的控制。我们和其他人的早期工作表明，光控制着叶片的产生速度、叶片大小和形态，这表明光调节分生组织的功能。最近，我们发现了有力支持这一命题的分子证据。该研究计划旨在描绘从光激活的信号转导到器官发生的分子路径，首次说明光是如何引导发育的。为了帮助解决分子连接，这可能是错综复杂的，我们将采用集成的建模和实验制度。这是可能的，因为我们已经开发了光信号模型框架，可以扩展到包括分生组织基因。对不同途径结构的模型模拟将使我们能够预测可以在实验室中测试的新的分子连接。这种迭代过程将促进和提高通路组装的准确性。该模型将帮助我们确定不同的光制度如何改变途径的动力学和发育，提供对途径行为的系统水平的理解。一个重要成果将是产生一个具有预测能力的发育可塑性模型：这是作物改良方案的宝贵资源。模型开发也代表着我们朝着构建虚拟植物的未来目标迈出了重要的一步。

项目成果

Stochastic modeling of auto-regulatory genetic feedback loops: a review and comparative study

自动调节遗传反馈环的随机建模：回顾和比较研究

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1910.08937
• 发表时间: 2019
• 作者: Holehouse J