EXC 1028: Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS) - From Complex Traits towards Synthetic Modules

自养植物通过将光能、水和二氧化碳转化为化学能来维持陆地生命。然而，在全球变化和人口增长的影响下，可耕地越来越少，包括水和肥料在内的资源正在枯竭。为了制定可持续植物生产的创新战略，需要对植物物种如何适应环境条件和限制有一个基本的了解。这些问题的答案编码在现有的自然和人工诱导的遗传变异中，这些变异使植物物种及其相关微生物能够在几乎所有的陆地环境中定居。这个卓越集群的目的是解码这些信息，以了解对资源高效植物生长至关重要的四个特定复杂性状：(1)一年生和多年生生活史，(2)C4光合作用，(3)植物-微生物相互作用的分子和(4)代谢机制。这些复杂的性状要么是独立进化的，要么是在开花植物进化过程中反复丧失的，这表明涉及的基因数量是可控的。因此，建立解释和预测这些性状遗传基础的模型是可能的。这些模型可以通过基因转移和整个基因调控网络在密切相关的物种之间进行测试，这些物种表现出各自性状谱的相反两端。基于这些预测模型合理设计复杂性状的能力将证明对这些性状背后机制的理解以及在作物中修改它们的可行性。为了实现这些目标，科隆- <s:1>塞尔多夫地区现有的科学能力被结合在卓越集群中，创建了一个由实验和理论生物学家组成的跨学科团队。在一个独特的研究和培训企业，旨在推进植物和微生物的研究在生态背景下，CEPLAS集中了国际知名的专业知识，从科隆和<s:1>塞尔多夫大学，马克斯普朗克植物育种研究所和Forschungszentrum j<e:1>利希。我们重视培养青年科学家，为本科生和博士研究人员建立开拓性项目，并为博士后研究员建立职业发展项目。这将使年轻科学家有资格从事预测生物学和合成生物学，弥合实验生物学和定量生物学之间的差距。

Autotrophic plants sustain terrestrial life by converting light energy, water and CO2 into chemical energy. However, arable land is becoming scarce and resources, including water and fertilisers, are becoming depleted under the effects of global change and a growing human population. To develop innovative strategies for sustainable plant production, a fundamental understanding of how plant species adapt to environmental conditions and constraints is needed. The answers to these questions are encoded in the existing natural and artificially-induced genetic variation that enables plant species and their associated microbes to colonise almost all terrestrial environments. The aim of this Cluster of Excellence is to decode this information for four specific complex traits that are crucial to resource-efficient plant growth: (1) annual and perennial life history, (2) C4 photosynthesis, (3) molecular and (4) metabolic mechanisms of plant-microflora interactions. These complex traits have evolved independently or were lost repeatedly during flowering plant evolution, indicating that the number of genes involved is manageable. The development of models explaining and predicting the genetic basis of these traits is, therefore, possible. These models can be tested by transferring genes and entire gene regulatory networks between closely related species displaying opposing ends of the respective trait spectra. The ability to rationally engineer complex traits based on these predictive models will demonstrate understanding of the mechanisms underlying these traits and the feasibility of modifying them in crops. To achieve these goals, the scientific capabilities available within the Cologne-Düsseldorf region are combined in the Cluster of Excellence to create an interdisciplinary team of experimental and theoretical biologists. In an unique research and training venture aimed at advancing plant and microbial research in an ecological context, CEPLAS focusses internationally renowned expertise from the universities of Cologne and Düsseldorf, the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research and the Forschungszentrum Jülich. We emphasise training of young scientists to establish pioneering programmes for undergraduate students and doctoral researchers, as well as career advancement programmes for postdoctoral associates. This will qualify young scientists for a predictive and synthetic biology that bridges the gap between experimental and quantitative biology.