Genetic and Functional Genomic Analysis of Early Events in Cotton Fiber Development

棉花占世界天然纤维消费量的近一半。 每一根棉纤维都是胚珠的一个分化的表皮细胞。 每个棉铃大约产生50万根纤维，一些形成“绒毛”，一些形成可纺纤维。 将表皮细胞转变为纤维细胞的过程需要细胞命运的改变，这是一个涉及遗传、生理和发育“开关”的基本生物学过程。 遗传突变、基因型、授粉/受精和激素调节可以影响发育成纤维的细胞数量或改变纤维细胞特性。 然而，目前还不清楚这些因素如何控制基因表达的变化，编排的模式和克里思在纤维发育的早期阶段。 遗传和功能基因组的方法将被用来调查分子事件伴随着纤维细胞的启动。 将同基因裸种子突变体的未成熟胚珠中基因表达的变化与授粉和未授粉胚珠以及用植物激素处理的胚珠中的表达谱进行比较。 在导致纤维细胞起始的各种遗传、发育和生理条件下，将鉴定特定和常见的候选基因组。 此外，关于候选基因在纤维细胞起始中的作用的假设将使用同基因突变体和强大的拟南芥遗传学进行严格的测试。 更广泛的影响这个跨学科的项目将对研究，教育和科学界产生广泛和直接的影响，通过创建供公众使用的基因组资源，并使其结果直接适用于世界领先的纺织纤维作物的改进和可持续性。 遗传和基因组资源，如裸种子突变体、20 000个表达序列标签、分子标记和寡基因微阵列，一旦得到确认，将立即向公众开放，并协同应用于培训本科生、研究生和博士后，特别强调代表性不足的群体。 数据传播将包括及时向基因库发布无害环境技术，并向微阵列数据库（如GEO）发布基因表达谱。 将制定一项涉及研究生和博士后的综合计划，使中学生和科学教师尽早接触生物技术和基因组学。 将举办一个为期3天的教育讲习班，以促进公众对植物生物技术的接受，并通过动手实验、实验室图尔斯参观和实地考察对学生和科学教师进行培训。

Cotton represents nearly half of the world's natural fiber consumption. Each cotton fiber is a differentiated single epidermal cell of the ovule. Approximately half a million fibers are produced per cotton boll, some forming "fuzz" and some forming spinnable fibers. The process of turning an epidermal cell into a fiber cell requires a change in cell fate, a fundamental biological process involving genetic, physiological, and developmental "switches". Genetic mutations, genotypes, pollination/fertilization, and hormonal regulation can affect the number of cells developing into fibers or alter fiber cell properties. However, it is unclear how these factors control gene expression changes that orchestrate the pattern and tempo in early stages of fiber development. Genetic and functional genomic approaches will be employed to investigate molecular events concomitant with fiber cell initiation. Changes in gene expression in immature ovules of isogenic naked seed mutants will be compared with expression profiles in pollinated and un-pollinated ovules and ovules treated with phytohormones. Both specific and common sets of candidate genes will be identified in a variety of genetic, developmental, and physiological conditions leading to fiber cell initiation. Furthermore, hypotheses concerning the roles of candidate genes in fiber cell initiation will be rigorously tested using the isogenic mutants and powerful Arabidopsis genetics. Broader ImpactsThis interdisciplinary project will have broad and direct impacts on research, education, and the scientific community by creating genomic resources for public use and rendering their results directly applicable to the improvement and sustainability of the world's leading textile fiber crop. Genetic and genomic resources such as naked seed mutants, 20,000 expressed sequence tags (ESTs), molecular markers and oligo-gene microarrays will be released to the public domain as soon as they are confirmed and applied synergistically to train undergraduate and graduate students and postdocs with a special emphasis on under-represented groups. Data dissemination will include timely release of ESTs to GenBank and gene expression profiles to microarray data repositories such as GEO. An integrated plan involving graduate students and postdocs will be developed for early exposure of students and science teachers in middle schools to biotechnology and genomics. A 3-day educational workshop will be developed to promote public acceptance of plant biotechnology, as well as to train students and science teachers using hands-on experiments, laboratory tours, and field trips.