Manipulation of stomatal density to improve CO2 uptake in Strawberry and Blueberry

许多关于商业温室中CO2富集效应的研究表明，通过增加光合作用碳同化可以提高作物产量。用于同化的CO2的吸收通过被称为气孔的叶片表面上的小孔来控制。气孔由一对特化细胞（保卫细胞）组成，它们之间有一个小孔，位于植物的大部分气生部分，但最常见于（下）叶表皮。在一些物种中，包括水稻和大麦等作物，气孔密度的变化已被证明可以通过改善气体扩散和提高水的利用效率来增加光合作用。因此，增加SD有可能显着提高草莓和蓝莓产量，提高浆果质量的一致性。在这项提议中，我们的目标是通过转基因方法和基因组编辑，通过改变表皮图案形成因子（EPFs）的表达来操纵草莓和蓝莓中的SD，EPFs参与气孔密度。在拟南芥中过表达一种EPF“气孔蛋白”导致SD增加超过3倍，在环境CO2下气孔导度增加，光合速率增加30%（Tanaka et al，2013）。该项目的总体目标是：1）生产新的转基因和基因组编辑的气孔密度改变的草莓和蓝莓品系; 2）鉴定具有增加的光合作用，生物量和果实产量的草莓和蓝莓品系; 3）分析对所选水果的风味和香气特征的影响。

Numerous studies on the effects of CO2 enrichment in commercial greenhouses have shown that increased crop yields can be obtained through increased photosynthetic carbon assimilation. The uptake of CO2 for assimilation is controlled through small pores on the leaf surface known as stomata. Stomata are composed of a pair of specialized cells (guard cells) with an aperture between them and are located on the majority of the aerial parts of plant but most prevalent on the (lower) leaf epidermis. Alteration in stomatal density (SD), in a number of species - including crops such as rice and barley, has been shown to increase photosynthesis by improving gas diffusion as well as improving water use efficiency. Increasing SD therefore has the potential to significantly enhance strawberry and blueberry yields and improve the consistency of berry quality. In this proposal, we aim to manipulate SD in Strawberry and Blueberry by altering the expression of epidermal patterning factors (EPFs), involved in stomatal density, through transgenic approaches and genome editing. The over-expressing of one EPF 'stomagen' in Arabidopsis resulted in a more than three-fold increase in SD, an increase in stomatal conductance under ambient CO2 and a 30% increase in photosynthetic rates (Tanaka et al, 2013). The overall aim of this project is to: 1) produce new transgenic and genome edited strawberry and blueberry lines with altered stomatal density; 2) identify strawberry and blueberry lines with increased photosynthesis, biomass and fruit yield; 3) analyse the impact on the flavour and aroma profiles of selected fruit.