Genes Required to Make a Soybean Seed

在今后50年中，需要在越来越少的适合作物生产的土地上生产比人类整个历史上更多的粮食。 因此，一项重大挑战是大幅度提高主要作物的产量，以便利用有限的可用于种植作物的土地来增加粮食产量。 种子是人类消费的主要食物来源。 该项目的长期目标是利用最先进的基因组技术来揭示“制造种子”所需的基因网络。“我们的理由是，通过了解建立种子形式和功能所需的基因途径，可以设计新的方法来提高种子产量，从而提高粮食产量。 本计画的实验将探讨高等植物种子分化所需的调控网路。 大豆将被用于研究种子发育中的基因活性，因为（1）大豆种子是世界上最大的蛋白质饲料和植物油来源之一，每年为美国提供180亿美元的农场价值，(2)大豆种子传统上是研究控制种子发育基本过程的重要系统，（3）近年来在开发基因组资源方面取得了显著进展，这些资源可用于获得对在“如何制造大豆种子”中起主要作用的调控基因和途径的新认识。“最先进的显微镜技术（即，激光捕获显微切割）将用于从发育早期的大豆种子中分离特定的区室、组织和细胞类型--包括种皮、胚乳和胚区域以及器官系统。 将进行微阵列、EST测序和定量RT-PCR实验，以确定（1）在种子不同部分中有活性的基因和过程的谱，以及（2）转录因子如何在种子内分配。 为了确定隔室和组织特异性转录因子在大豆种子发育中的作用，还将进行功能研究。 所有的微阵列数据和EST序列将被保存在公共数据库（例如，基因库，全球环境展望），并提供给科学界。 在该项目中进行的实验将提供新的见解基因集和转录调节因子，这些基因集和转录调节因子存在于种子发育的最早阶段的不同细胞和组织中，并将为解剖大豆和其他作物种子发育所需的机制提供新的资源。 此外，主修科学和人文学科的本科生也将参与这个项目，以便他们能够亲身体验“发现的兴奋”。"

During the next 50 years there will be a need to produce more food than in the entire history of mankind on a decreasing amount of land suitable for crop production. A major challenge, therefore, is to increase the yield of major crops significantly in order to increase food production using the limited amount of land available for growing crops. Seeds represent a major source of food for human consumption. The long-term objective of this project is to use state-of-the-art genomic technologies to uncover the gene networks required to "make a seed." Our rationale is that by understanding the gene pathways required for the establishment of seed form and function, novel approaches can be designed for increasing seed yield and, therefore, food production. The experiments in this project will investigate the regulatory networks required for seed differentiation in higher plants. Soybeans will be used to investigate gene activity in seed development because (1) soybean seeds are one of the largest sources of protein feed and vegetable oil in the world, providing $18 billion annually in farm value to the U.S., (2) soybean seeds have traditionally served as an important system for studying the basic processes controlling seed development, and (3) remarkable progress has been made in recent years in developing genomic resources that can be used to gain new insights into the regulatory genes and pathways that play major roles in "how to make a soybean seed." State-of-the-art microscope technology (i.e., laser capture microdissection) will be used to isolate specific compartments, tissues, and cell types from soybean seeds at early stages of development - including the seed coat, endosperm, and embryo regions and organ systems. Microarray, EST sequencing, and quantitative RT-PCR experiments will be carried out in order to determine (1) the spectrum of genes and processes that are active in different parts of seed and (2) how transcription factors are partitioned within a seed. Functional studies will also be carried out in order to determine what role compartment and tissue-specific transcription factors play in soybean seed development. All of the microarrary data and EST sequences will be deposited in public databases (e.g., GenBank, GEO) and made available to the scientific community. The experiments carried out in this project will provide new insights into the gene sets and transcriptional regulators that are present in different cells and tissues of a seed at the earliest stages of development and will provide a novel resource for dissecting the mechanisms required for seed development - in soybean and other crop plants. In addition, undergraduates majoring in both science and the humanities will participate in this project in order for them to learn first hand about the "excitement of discovery."