Facing Forwards - Understanding epidermal development in cereals

面向未来 - 了解谷物的表皮发育

• 批准号: BB/Y001850/1
• 负责人: Sarah McKim
• 金额: $ 59.06万
• 依托单位: University of Dundee
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FY001850%2F1
• 关键词: Facing; Forwards; Understanding; epidermal; development

As the primary source of calories, cereals are the cornerstone species of our food security. To sustainably meet food demands, we need to increase cereal grain yields without increasing inputs or using more land, all the while facing accelerating and more extreme temperature and drought events. Plants faced severe climate challenges millions of years ago when they expanded to living on land. To survive, land plants evolved a highly adaptive outer surface lined with epidermal cells that secrete a protective lipid-rich cuticle to prevent water loss and reflect incoming radiation, interspersed with adjustable air pores called stomata allowing plants to breathe and transpire. In this way, the outer epidermis balances protection and exchange with the above-ground environment. Fine-tuning this balance helps plants respond to changing and challenging environments. For example, grasses, including staple cereal crops develop extremely efficient stomatal complexes and thick waxy cuticles, key elaborations which help grasses save water and maintain temperature on hot, high light plains. Epidermal surfaces can also develop other types of specialised cells, including defensive structures such as hairs and silica-accumulating cells which can also influence epidermal water loss, cooling and stomatal function. We propose that these adaptive features of the cereal epidermis can be mobilised to engineer cereal crops which need less irrigation and maintain yield in future climates.To do this, we need to understand how plants coordinate the cuticle and specialised cell types on the epidermis and the relevance of each component and their combinations to epidermal function. In a major advance in this effort, our research group recently revealed that deeply conserved, interacting genes control both epidermal cell patterning as well as cuticle properties in barley, thus identifying a shared upstream network controlling multiple epidermal features linked to cereal performance. This proposal exploits these findings as a platform to determine the crucial steps in epidermal development and how they influence each other, respond to environmental conditions and impact epidermal functions and whole plant productivity. We will deploy cutting edge approaches to profile cuticle and cell patterning in the epidermis at an unprecedented resolution and explore the interdepenc(ies) between these events. We will also exploit our genetic knowledge to evaluate genetic determinants in wheat, a closely related cereal which along with barley dominate temperate agriculture. Finally, we will use state-of-the-art controlled environments and specialist physiological methods to assess the impact of altered epidermal features on physiological function both at the tissue and whole plant level and future climate scenarios. Taken together, our research will deliver a step-change in our ability to design suites of epidermal features to future-proof our crops.

作为卡路里的主要来源，谷物是我们粮食安全的基石物种。为了可持续地满足粮食需求，我们需要在不增加投入或使用更多土地的情况下提高谷物产量，同时面临加速和更极端的气温和干旱事件。数百万年前，当植物扩展到生活在陆地上时，它们面临着严峻的气候挑战。为了生存，陆地植物进化出了一种高度适应的外表面，里面排列着表皮细胞，这些细胞分泌一种保护性的富含脂肪的角质层，以防止水分流失并反射传入的辐射，中间点缀着可调节的气孔，称为气孔，允许植物呼吸和排出。通过这种方式，外表皮平衡了保护和与地面环境的交换。微调这种平衡有助于植物对不断变化和具有挑战性的环境做出反应。例如，草，包括主要的谷类作物，会形成极其高效的气孔复合体和厚厚的蜡质角质层，这是帮助草类在炎热、高光照的平原上节水和保持温度的关键因素。表皮表面也可以形成其他类型的特殊细胞，包括防御结构，如毛发和二氧化硅积累细胞，这也可以影响表皮失水、冷却和气孔功能。我们认为，谷物表皮的这些适应性特征可以被动员起来，以设计出需要较少灌溉的谷物作物，并在未来的气候中保持产量。要做到这一点，我们需要了解植物如何协调表皮上的角质层和特殊细胞类型，以及每个成分及其组合与表皮功能的相关性。在这方面的一项重大进展中，我们的研究小组最近发现，高度保守的相互作用基因控制着大麦的表皮细胞模式和角质层特性，从而确定了一个共同的上游网络，控制着与谷物性能相关的多种表皮特征。这项建议利用这些发现作为一个平台，来确定表皮发育中的关键步骤，以及它们如何相互影响，对环境条件做出反应，并影响表皮功能和整个植物的生产力。我们将部署尖端方法，以前所未有的分辨率描绘表皮中的角质层和细胞图案，并探索这些事件之间的相互依存关系。我们还将利用我们的遗传知识来评估小麦的遗传决定因素，小麦是一种与大麦密切相关的谷物，与大麦一起主导着温带农业。最后，我们将使用最先进的受控环境和专家生理学方法来评估组织和整个植物水平上的表皮特征变化对生理功能的影响以及未来的气候情景。总而言之，我们的研究将使我们设计一整套表皮特征以防止作物未来生长的能力发生阶段性变化。