Epigenetic control of the plant male gametophyte and germline

植物雄配子体和种系的表观遗传控制

• 批准号: BB/F007558/1
• 负责人: David Twell
• 金额: $ 43.45万
• 依托单位: University of Leicester
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2008 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FF007558%2F1
• 关键词: Epigenetic; control; plant; male; gametophyte

Like animals, plants have a reproductive system that relies on the production of male and female reproductive cells - sperms and eggs - and a fertilization process. As almost all major crops require this sexual reproduction system to produce seeds, the importance of understanding the developmental biology of plant fertility and reproduction is critical. In animals, much recent work has shown that short information-carrying molecules of RNA ('small RNAs'/sRNAs) are essential for the development of male reproductive cells, a role that was never previously anticipated. The pathways in cells that generate and process these RNA molecules are consequently of great importance. In plants, there is now rapidly accumulating evidence to show that these RNA molecules have essential roles in regulating normal development and health of the plant, through controlling how genes are expressed, the way chromosomes are assembled and defence against parasites. Surprisingly, the role of sRNA pathways in regulating the reproduction of plants has not been studied - even though evidence is available to suggest that they are likely to fulfil the same kinds of important functions. For example, in the formation of the male reproductive cells (pollen) it is well established that there is a major change in the expression of many genes, a cycle of RNA abundance, and dramatic changes in the architecture of the chromosomes. Further, one biotechnology technique called RNAi (which relies on theses RNA pathways to work) has been shown to be effective in plant gametophytes. Our proposal will investigate - for the first time - the presence and function of these RNA processing pathways in the plant male gametophyte and germline (all contained in the pollen grain). Using a range of new technologies, we will use viral proteins that disrupt these pathways to determine the effect of perturbing their normal function on the development and fertility of the pollen. This will also allow us to find which genes in pollen that may be regulated by small RNAs. We will investigate whether the genes that encode the various parts of the RNA processing pathways are active in the different cells that compose the pollen. Using a new sequencing strategy (454) we shall then attempt to sequence and identify all the sRNA molecules in the gametophyte, which will tell us immediately which genes are likely to be involved in this system. Finally we shall set up experiments to test whether a cellular system for processing a specific class of small RNA ('microRNA') is functional. In terms of benefits, this project will provide valuable information on how plants reproduce, allow meaningful comparisons to animal reproduction and generate new technology that will allow greater understanding of this economically important part of the plant life cycle.

与动物一样，植物也有生殖系统，依赖于雄性和雌性生殖细胞（精子和卵子）的产生以及受精过程。由于几乎所有主要作物都需要这种有性生殖系统来产生种子，因此了解植物育性和繁殖的发育生物学至关重要。在动物中，最近的许多研究表明，携带信息的短 RNA 分子（“小 RNA”/sRNA）对于雄性生殖细胞的发育至关重要，这一作用是以前从未预料到的。因此，细胞中生成和处理这些 RNA 分子的途径非常重要。在植物中，现在迅速积累的证据表明，这些 RNA 分子通过控制基因的表达方式、染色体的组装方式以及防御寄生虫，在调节植物的正常发育和健康方面发挥着重要作用。令人惊讶的是，sRNA 途径在调节植物繁殖中的作用尚未被研究——尽管有证据表明它们可能履行相同类型的重要功能。例如，在雄性生殖细胞（花粉）的形成过程中，许多基因的表达发生了重大变化，RNA丰度循环以及染色体结构发生了巨大变化。此外，一种称为 RNAi（依赖于这些 RNA 途径发挥作用）的生物技术已被证明对植物配子体有效。我们的提案将首次研究植物雄配子体和种系（全部包含在花粉粒中）中这些 RNA 加工途径的存在和功能。通过一系列新技术，我们将使用破坏这些途径的病毒蛋白来确定扰乱其正常功能对花粉发育和生育力的影响。这也将使我们能够找到花粉中哪些基因可能受到小 RNA 的调控。我们将研究编码 RNA 加工途径各个部分的基因是否在构成花粉的不同细胞中活跃。然后，我们将使用新的测序策略（454）尝试对配子体中的所有 sRNA 分子进行测序和识别，这将立即告诉我们哪些基因可能参与该系统。最后，我们将进行实验来测试处理特定类别小 RNA（“microRNA”）的细胞系统是否功能正常。就效益而言，该项目将提供有关植物如何繁殖的宝贵信息，与动物繁殖进行有意义的比较，并产生新技术，使人们更好地了解植物生命周期中这一经济上重要的部分。

项目成果

MicroRNA and tasiRNA diversity in mature pollen of Arabidopsis thaliana.

• DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-10-643
• 发表时间: 2009-12-30
• 期刊: BMC genomics
• 影响因子: 4.4
• 作者: Grant-Downton R;Le Trionnaire G;Schmid R;Rodriguez-Enriquez J;Hafidh S;Mehdi S;Twell D;Dickinson H
• 通讯作者: Dickinson H

Through a generation darkly: small RNAs in the gametophyte.

经历了黑暗的一代：配子体中的小RNA。

• DOI: 10.1042/bst0380617
• 发表时间: 2010
• 期刊: Biochemical Society transactions
• 影响因子: 3.9
• 作者: Grant-Downton RT