Understanding adaptation to increase temperature robustness in wheat

了解提高小麦温度鲁棒性的适应性

• 批准号: MR/S031677/1
• 负责人: Laura Dixon
• 金额: $ 92.79万
• 依托单位: University of Leeds
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MR%2FS031677%2F1
• 关键词: Understanding; adaptation; increase; temperature; robustness

Wheat is the UK's primary arable crop and provides a large proportion of the global calorie, protein and micro-nutrient requirements for both humans and livestock. Current predictions indicate that a 1C increase in global temperature would lead to a 4.1-6.3% decrease in wheat yield, yet yield needs to be increased by an estimated 60% by 2050 to meet the demands of a growing population. To address this challenge and improve the reliability of the wheat yield to changing climates we must understand how plants respond to temperature. I will utilise the naturally existing genetic diversity in wheat and combine this with recently curated mutant populations and the newly annotated wheat genome sequence to identify genes and biological processes involved in temperature adaptation in wheat. Currently, we do not understand the genetic or molecular basis of how wheat responds to temperatures under standard growing conditions, ~6-24C. My recent research focuses on this temperature range and has challenged the assumption that the response to overwintering (vernalization) only occurs at < 6C. This was identified after I observed heat activation of the same genes that function in low temperature vernalization. This raises the possibility that many of the genes involved in the vernalization response can also be employed to regulate and increase crop robustness and yield at higher ambient temperatures. I plan to build on this discovery by identifying other genes involved in regulating the key developmental transition from vegetative to reproductive growth under field conditions, and then explore how these genes function (Objective 1). To date the majority of research on temperature responses has been limited to constant controlled temperature conditions, yet my research indicates that the mechanisms by which plants respond to variable temperatures, such as those experienced by crop plants growing in the field, are actually quite different. I will also investigate the molecular function of genes which have been shown to be important in vernalization and identify the proteins they interact with and how they function under different temperature conditions (Objectives 2 and 3). Finally, I will investigate methods to accelerate vernalization under experimental conditions to increase research and wheat breeding capabilities with wheat that requires vernalization (Objective 4). This Fellowship is timely as it combines my recent advances in understanding the molecular basis of temperature responses in wheat with the newly (2018) released wheat genome sequence, curated mutant populations and high-throughput genome sequencing capabilities. The Fellowship will be conducted at the University of Bristol as this will facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations as well as collaborations within the renowned School of Biological Sciences. In addition, Bristol has established field trial sites and world-leading sequencing resources, both of which are important for this research. The Fellowship will also support collaboration between the Fellow and industry to enable knowledge exchange from this research to influence the performance of wheat under diverse environmental conditions. This research will advance our knowledge of temperature adaptation in wheat and enable the formation of an integrated understanding of how plants use temperature to regulate key developmental decisions. This will have societal benefit by providing information and resources that can be exploited in the wheat breeding industry, for example, to reduce the duration of breeding cycles and provide methods to increase the robustness of wheat yield to the erratic temperature patterns associated with climate change.

小麦是英国主要的可耕地作物，为人类和牲畜提供了全球热量、蛋白质和微量营养素需求的很大一部分。目前的预测表明，全球气温上升1摄氏度将导致小麦产量下降4.1-6.3%，但到2050年，产量需要提高约60%，以满足不断增长的人口的需求。为了应对这一挑战并提高小麦产量对气候变化的可靠性，我们必须了解植物如何对温度做出反应。我将利用小麦中自然存在的遗传多样性，并将其与最近策划的突变种群和新注释的小麦基因组序列相结合，以确定小麦中涉及温度适应的基因和生物过程。目前，我们还不了解小麦在标准生长条件下（~6-24℃）对温度反应的遗传或分子基础。我最近的研究集中在这个温度范围，并挑战了越冬反应（春化）只发生在< 6℃的假设。这是在我观察到在低温春化中起作用的相同基因的热激活后确定的。这就提出了一种可能性，即许多参与春化反应的基因也可以用于调节和提高作物在较高环境温度下的稳健性和产量。我计划在这一发现的基础上，鉴定在田间条件下参与调控从营养生长到生殖生长的关键发育转变的其他基因，然后探索这些基因的功能（目标1）。迄今为止，大多数关于温度反应的研究都局限于恒定的受控温度条件，然而我的研究表明，植物对可变温度的反应机制，例如作物在田间生长所经历的，实际上是完全不同的。我还将研究在春化过程中起重要作用的基因的分子功能，并确定它们相互作用的蛋白质以及它们在不同温度条件下的功能（目标2和3）。最后，我将研究在实验条件下加速春化的方法，以提高需要春化小麦的研究和小麦育种能力（目标4）。这个奖学金是及时的，因为它结合了我最近在理解小麦温度反应的分子基础方面的进展，以及最新（2018年）发布的小麦基因组序列、精心策划的突变群体和高通量基因组测序能力。该奖学金将在布里斯托大学进行，因为这将促进跨学科合作以及著名的生物科学学院内部的合作。此外，布里斯托尔已经建立了实地试验点和世界领先的测序资源，这两者对这项研究都很重要。研究金还将支持研究员与产业界之间的合作，使这项研究的知识得以交流，从而影响小麦在不同环境条件下的表现。这项研究将促进我们对小麦温度适应的认识，并使我们对植物如何利用温度调节关键发育决策形成一个综合的理解。这将通过提供可用于小麦育种行业的信息和资源而产生社会效益，例如，减少育种周期的持续时间，并提供增加小麦产量对与气候变化相关的不稳定温度模式的稳定期的方法。

项目成果

Cereal Architecture and Its Manipulation

• DOI: 10.1002/9781119312994.apr0648
• 发表时间: 2022-02
• 期刊: Annual Plant Reviews online
• 影响因子: 1.6
• 作者: Laura E. Dixon;W. Esse;Dominique Hirsz;V. Willemsen;Sarah M. McKim

Temperature Control of Plant Development

• DOI: 10.1002/9781119312994.apr0745
• 发表时间: 2020-11
• 作者: K. O'Connor;Pablo González-Suárez;Laura E. Dixon

A new framework for predicting and understanding flowering time for crop breeding

• DOI: 10.1002/ppp3.10427
• 发表时间: 2023-10-08
• 期刊: PLANTS PEOPLE PLANET
• 影响因子: 5.1
• 作者: Deva，Chetan;Dixon，Laura;Challinor，Andrew
• 通讯作者: Challinor，Andrew

Harnessing Landrace Diversity Empowers Wheat Breeding for Climate Resilience

• DOI: 10.1101/2023.10.04.560903
• 发表时间: 2023-10
• 期刊: bioRxiv
• 作者: Shifeng Cheng;Cong Feng;L. Wingen;Hong Cheng;Andrew B. Riche;Mei Jiang;M. Leverington-Waite

A modified intron of VRT2 drives glume and grain elongation in wheat.

VRT2 的修饰内含子可驱动小麦的颖片和籽粒伸长。

• DOI: 10.1016/j.molp.2021.08.016
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Molecular plant
• 影响因子: 27.5
• 作者: Dixon LE