Collaborative Proposal: RCN on Integrative Pollen Biology

花粉管是一种特殊的植物细胞，其功能是运输精子使卵子受精，因此它们对植物繁殖、农业生产力和物种保护至关重要。从花粉粒中延伸出一根管的营养细胞被广泛认为是研究细胞生长的一个很好的模型系统。花粉和雌蕊(雌性生殖器官)之间的相互作用控制着管子的生长、方向和精子排出，是细胞-细胞通讯研究的极好模型。近年来，由于分子遗传学、功能基因组学和活细胞成像等新工具的采用，花粉研究进入了一个令人兴奋的、变革性进展的新阶段。这一模型细胞系统也吸引了越来越多具有不同生物学领域背景的新的和成熟的研究人员。综合花粉生物学研究协调网络(RCN)旨在为不断扩大的花粉社区提供一个协调的论坛，以便协同工作，交换信息，共享工具和资源，并讨论工作模式。该网络将侧重于促进和扩大研究界的活动，并促进协作、实验和计算方法，以实现对花粉的系统理解。一个关于花粉研究基本方法的短期课程将为建立多种专门研究花粉的方法提供先机，从而降低新人在考虑开始利用花粉进行研究时面临的障碍。储存在多个公共和私人数据库中的信息激增，区域信息网的主要目标之一将是提取这些信息，共享这些信息，并以协作小组的形式开展工作，以便在下一个十年加快和促进研究进展。RCN将建立一个“维基花粉”站点，以促进从不同实验室获得的生化、生理和细胞数据的整合，以进行模拟花粉管生长的试点工作，由此可能产生进一步的假设，以获得对这一细胞生长过程的更深层次的了解。RCN还将为研究生提供暑期实习，以衔接生物学和计算机科学的接口培训。RCN赞助的实习生将开发数据挖掘、分析和整合项目，这些项目的结果将在RCN网站上查阅。由于几乎没有实验室拥有专业知识来利用不断增加的可用于生物研究的研究工具，RCN将补贴差旅费，以促进兴趣互补和专业知识互补的小组之间的合作。在促进花粉社区的研究效率方面，RCN的最终目标是在未来几年促进花粉研究在科学和技术的前沿。RCN将在网络实验室内赞助主要为本科院校(PUI)或少数群体服务机构与研究型大学之间的教职员工和学生的相互访问。这种双向访问，特别是研究型大学的科学家访问PUI，将有效地接触到更多的本科生，在这些访问之后，对这些PUI的研究活动的影响将更可持续。为了从早期拓宽未来生物学家的渠道，RCN还将为高中教师举办暑期实习和研讨会，他们将反过来将植物繁殖方面的令人兴奋的发展带给高中生。

Pollen tubes are specialized plant cells whose function is to transport sperm to fertilize the egg, thus they are crucial for plant reproduction, agricultural productivity and species preservation. The vegetative cell that extends a tube from the pollen grain is widely recognized as an excellent model system with which to study cell growth. Interactions between pollen and pistil (the female reproductive organ) govern tube growth, direction, and sperm discharge and are excellent models for cell-cell communication studies. In recent years, research on pollen has entered a new phase of exciting, transformational advances stimulated by adoption of new tools in molecular genetics, functional genomics and live-cell imaging. This model cell system has also attracted increasing numbers of new and established investigators with backgrounds in different biological areas. The Research Coordination Network (RCN) on Integrative Pollen Biology will aim to provide a coordinated forum for the expanding pollen community to work together synergistically, exchange information, share tools and resources and discuss working models. The Network will focus on activities to nucleate and broaden the research community and facilitate collaborative experimental and computational approaches to achieving a systems understanding of pollen. A short course on basic pollen research methods will provide a head start to establish a variety of research methods specialized for pollen study, thus lowering the barriers newcomers face when considering initiating research with pollen. There is a proliferation of information stored in multiple public and private databases, and one of the major goals of the RCN will be to extract this information, share it and work in collaborative groups in order to expedite and facilitate research advances in the next decade. The RCN will establish a "Wiki pollen" site to facilitate integration of biochemical, physiological and cellular data obtained from different laboratories towards a pilot effort in modeling pollen tube growth, from which further hypotheses may be generated to obtain a deeper understanding of this cell growth process. The RCN will also sponsor Summer Internships for graduate students to bridge training at the interface of biology and computer science. The RCN sponsored interns will develop data mining, analysis and integration projects, and the outcomes of these projects will be accessible on the RCN website. Since few laboratories have the expertise to take advantage of the ever increasing spectrum of research tools available for biological research, the RCN will subsidize traveling expenses to facilitate collaborations between groups with complementing interest and expertise. In facilitating research effectiveness among the pollen community, the RCN's ultimate goal is to promote pollen research at the cutting edge of science and technology for years to come.Broader Impact. The RCN will sponsor mutual visits of faculty and students between primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) or minority-serving institutions and research universities within the network laboratories. These two-way visits, especially with scientists from research universities visiting PUIs, will effectively reach more undergraduates, and the impact on research activities in these PUIs will be more sustainable after these visits. To broaden the pipeline for future biologists from an early stage, the RCN will also sponsor Summer Internships and Workshops for high school teachers, who will in turn bring the exciting developments in plant reproduction to students in high schools.