Organization of Terpene Specialized Metabolism in Plant Roots

智力价值：作为多细胞有机体，植物依赖于高度组织的代谢途径系统。与动物的免疫系统相比，植物发展了一种复杂多样的专门化或次级新陈代谢，作为抵御其他生物攻击的重要防御机制。由于昆虫和微生物病原体使用不同的取食或入侵策略，植物的化学防御需要针对组织和细胞类型，同时保持足够的可塑性。这个项目调查植物如何协调和微调不同细胞类型和亚细胞隔间中的特殊代谢途径。重点放在模式植物拟南芥根部挥发性萜烯的代谢上。萜类化合物是最常见的特殊代谢产物，在植物防御中具有重要的功能。这项研究探索了萜类生物合成模块的遗传组织和生化功能，这些模块由根细胞类型特异表达和胁迫诱导表达的酶组成。此外，该项目解决了萜类代谢物的形成在多大程度上严格限于特定的根细胞类型的问题，并检查了根部萜类代谢的细胞器特定调节的各个方面。广泛的影响：预期的结果可能允许通过在作物中设计根部化学防御来开发可持续控制农业土传害虫和病原体的新策略。该项目将高中和本科生教育整合到一个积极的研究项目中，为弗吉尼亚理工大学开发的大学前教育项目“植物研究和教育伙伴关系(PREP)”及其本科生扩展(PREPU)引入了新的实验概念。对于PREPU，实验将作为本科生/研究生课程“化学生态学导论”的实验室模块实施。在这项研究项目中产生的植物突变体将在这两个教育项目中进行测试，以确定它们对根侵袭生物的防御特性。这项研究通过调查整合了K-12和本科生的学习，并促进了对跨学科和翻译生命科学的理解。该项目还为一名博士后研究员、一名研究生和两名本科生提供跨学科培训和转型教育。对该项目的研究有力地支持了弗吉尼亚理工大学分子植物科学项目的研究生教育，以及从科学界代表性不足的群体中招募个人。

Intellectual Merit:As multicellular organisms, plants rely on a highly organized system of metabolic pathways. Compared to the animal immune system, plants have developed a complex and diverse 'specialized', or secondary, metabolism as an important defense mechanism against attack by other organisms. Since insects and microbial pathogens use different strategies of feeding or invasion, plant chemical defenses need to be tissue and cell-type specific but, at the same time, maintain a sufficient level of plasticity. This project investigates how plants coordinate and fine-tune specialized metabolic pathways in different cell types and subcellular compartments. Focus is placed on the metabolism of volatile terpenes in roots of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Terpenes are the most common specialized metabolites with significant functions in plant defense. The study explores the genetic organization and biochemical function of terpene biosynthesis modules consisting of enzymes coordinated by root cell-type specific and stress-induced expression. Furthermore, the project addresses the question of how strictly the formation of terpene metabolites is limited to particular root cell types and examines aspects of the organelle-specific regulation of terpene metabolism in roots.Broader Impacts:Expected results may allow developing novel strategies for sustainable control of agricultural soil-borne pests and pathogens by engineering root chemical defenses in crop plants. The project integrates high school and undergraduate student education into an active research project by introducing novel experimental concepts for the pre-college education program "Partnership for Research and Education in Plants (PREP)" and its undergraduate-level extension (PREPu), developed at Virginia Tech. For PREPu, experiments will be implemented as a laboratory module in the undergraduate/graduate course "Introduction to Chemical Ecology". Plant mutants generated in this research project will be tested in both educational programs for their defense properties against root-attacking organisms. The study integrates K-12 and undergraduate student learning through investigation and promotes understanding of interdisciplinary and translational life science. The project further provides interdisciplinary training and transformative education for one postdoctoral fellow, one graduate student, and two undergraduate students. Research on this project strongly supports graduate education in the Molecular Plant Sciences Program at Virginia Tech and recruitment of individuals from groups underrepresented in science.