Understanding and ameliorating the impact of climate change on plant meiosis

了解和改善气候变化对植物减数分裂的影响

• 批准号: BB/V005774/1
• 负责人: Christopher Morgan
• 金额: $ 38.85万
• 依托单位: John Innes Centre
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FV005774%2F1
• 关键词: Understanding; ameliorating; impact; climate; change

Increasing temperatures associated with climate change are expected to impact food security by causing reductions in the global yield of many major crops. The reproductive phase of plant development is acutely sensitive to temperature stress and exposure to high temperature extremes during this phase is the primary cause of reduced fertility (and yield) in many crops. Meiosis, a special cell division that produces the cells required for sexual reproduction (pollen and eggs in plants, sperm and eggs in humans), represents an important 'weak-link' in the plant reproductive cycle and is known to fail at high temperatures in a variety of plant species, leading to losses of fertility. However, what actually causes meiosis to fail under temperature extremes, and how this might be prevented, remains almost completely mysterious. I have preliminary evidence that meiotic failure at extreme high temperature (33 degrees) occurs as a consequence of the misassembly and aggregation of multi-protein complexes (the meiotic axis and synaptonemal complex) that orchestrate dynamic chromosomal interactions during the early stages of meiosis. My first objective in this project will progress these initial observations to further characterise the problems that are faced by cells undergoing meiosis at extreme temperatures and to assess the contribution of these problems to overall reductions in plant fertility. To achieve this, I will systematically analyse the effects of a range of high temperatures on meiosis in the model plant species Arabidopsis thaliana using state-of-the-art microscopy. Arabidopsis is a small weed-like plant and is widely used by plant scientists as it possesses numerous features that make it highly amenable for research, allowing meaningful biological conclusions to be drawn from experiments in this species much more rapidly than they could from other non-model crop species. For my second objective, I will assess the impact of extreme temperatures on the expression of genes in Arabidopsis cells undergoing meiosis. This will shed light on how changes in the expression of particular genes in meiotic cells can either increase or decrease the thermal tolerance of meiosis in Arabidopsis. Wild populations of Arabidopsis thaliana can also be found occupying a range of different habitats, experiencing highly variable maximum and minimum temperatures. The third objective of my project will be to determine if populations of Arabidopsis thaliana that have adapted to undergoing fertilisation in warmer or cooler environments exhibit strong differences in their meiotic thermal stability and, thus, whether these plants have adapted to hotter temperatures by enhancing their meiotic thermal tolerance. My project's main aims are to uncover the molecular mechanisms that underpin the thermal sensitivity of meiosis and to find ways to overcome these mechanisms to increase meiotic thermal tolerance in plants. As meiosis is a highly conserved process, with meiosis in yeast, humans and plants all occurring via similar mechanisms, it is likely that any discoveries made in Arabidopsis will be translatable to more economically important crop species. As well as shedding light on aspects that control meiotic thermal stability, my project is also likely to offer novel insights into how chromosomes exchange segments of DNA during meiosis (a process that is of great interest to plant breeders) and it will help to answer fundamental questions about how proteins and cellular processes can evolve in the face of extreme abiotic stress. Taken together, the outcomes of my project will be highly beneficial for ensuring future global food security and sustaining high crop yields in the combined face of climate change and an ever-expanding population. My work maps to all of BBSRC's 'Forward Look for UK Bioscience' themes: 'Advancing the frontiers of bioscience discovery,' 'Tackling strategic challenges,' and 'Building strong foundations'.

与气候变化相关的气温上升预计将导致许多主要农作物的全球产量下降，从而影响粮食安全。植物发育的生殖阶段对温度胁迫非常敏感，在这一阶段暴露在高温极端环境中是许多作物肥力(和产量)降低的主要原因。减数分裂是一种特殊的细胞分裂，产生有性繁殖所需的细胞(植物的花粉和卵子，人类的精子和卵子)，是植物生殖周期中的一个重要的薄弱环节，已知在各种植物物种中在高温下会失败，导致生育能力丧失。然而，究竟是什么导致减数分裂在极端温度下失败，以及如何防止这一点，几乎完全是个谜。我有初步证据表明，在极高的温度(33度)下，减数分裂失败是由于多蛋白质复合体(减数分裂轴和联会复合体)的错误组装和聚集造成的，这些复合体在减数分裂早期协调动态的染色体相互作用。我在这个项目中的第一个目标是推进这些初步观察，以进一步描述在极端温度下进行减数分裂的细胞所面临的问题，并评估这些问题对植物肥力总体下降的贡献。为了实现这一点，我将使用最先进的显微镜系统地分析一系列高温对模式植物拟南芥减数分裂的影响。拟南芥是一种类似杂草的小植物，被植物科学家广泛使用，因为它具有许多特征，使其高度适合研究，使人们能够比从其他非模式作物物种中更快地从该物种的实验中得出有意义的生物学结论。对于我的第二个目标，我将评估极端温度对正在进行减数分裂的拟南芥细胞中基因表达的影响。这将阐明减数分裂细胞中特定基因表达的变化如何增加或降低拟南芥减数分裂的耐热性。也可以发现野生拟南芥种群占据着一系列不同的栖息地，经历着高度可变的最高和最低温度。我项目的第三个目标将是确定适应在较热或较冷环境中受精的拟南芥种群在减数分裂热稳定性方面是否表现出强烈的差异，从而确定这些植物是否通过提高它们的减数分裂热耐性来适应更高的温度。我的项目的主要目的是揭示支撑减数分裂热敏感性的分子机制，并找到克服这些机制以提高植物减数分裂热耐性的方法。由于减数分裂是一个高度保守的过程，酵母、人类和植物的减数分裂都是通过类似的机制发生的，因此在拟南芥中的任何发现都可能被翻译到更重要的经济作物物种。除了揭示控制减数分裂热稳定性的方面，我的项目还可能为染色体在减数分裂期间如何交换DNA片段(植物育种者非常感兴趣的过程)提供新的见解，并将有助于回答有关蛋白质和细胞过程如何在极端非生物胁迫下进化的基本问题。综上所述，我的项目成果将非常有利于确保未来的全球粮食安全，并在气候变化和人口不断增长的共同面前保持作物的高产量。我的工作映射了BBSRC的所有“展望英国生物科学”的主题：“推进生物科学发现的前沿”、“应对战略挑战”和“建立坚实的基础”。

项目成果

Coarsening dynamics can explain meiotic crossover patterning in both the presence and absence of the synaptonemal complex.

• DOI: 10.7554/elife.79408
• 发表时间: 2023-02-27
• 期刊: eLife
• 影响因子: 7.7
• 作者: Fozard JA;Morgan C;Howard M
• 通讯作者: Howard M

Meiotic chromosome organization and its role in recombination and cancer

减数分裂染色体组织及其在重组和癌症中的作用

• DOI: 10.1016/bs.ctdb.2022.04.008
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Curr Top Dev Biol
• 作者: Morgan Chris;Nayak Aditya;Hosoya Noriko;Smith Gerald R.;Lambing Christophe
• 通讯作者: Lambing Christophe

Control of meiotic crossover interference by a proteolytic chaperone network

• DOI: 10.1038/s41477-024-01633-y
• 发表时间: 2024-02-20
• 期刊: NATURE PLANTS
• 影响因子: 18
• 作者: Kim，Heejin;Kim，Jaeil;Choi，Kyuha
• 通讯作者: Choi，Kyuha