RUI: Integrating roots into whole plant phenotypes: ecological and genetic perturbations

复杂的植物表型受环境、遗传及其相互作用的影响。在植物物种拟南芥的自然或生态相关设置中，根系在很大程度上被忽视了。本项目的首要目标是研究拟南芥在根内、茎内以及根与茎之间的性状及其关系如何在自然栖息地中发生变化。在这个项目中，将研究田间种群根系性状和土壤养分特征的自然变化，并在不同的自然生态环境中种植植物。遗传工具将被用来研究单基因破坏对根性状的影响及其与茎性状的关系。这些数据将形成田间最大的拟南芥根系生态数据集。根对农业的成功至关重要，可能与其他重要的农业性状有积极或消极的关系。因此，这些数据将为农业科学家提供有关根性状、茎性状和性状关系如何在环境和遗传扰动下发生变化的信息。该项目将吸引不同群体的本科生作为研究学徒，以课堂探究为基础的学习，并通过城市幼儿园社区的服务学习经验来研究整个植物表型。

Complex plant phenotypes are influenced by the environment, genetics and their interactions. The root system has been largely overlooked in natural or ecologically relevant settings in the plant species Arabidopsis thaliana. An overarching goal of this project is to examine in Arabidopsis thaliana how traits and their relationships within the root, within the shoot, and between the root and shoot change across habitats in nature. In this project, natural variation of root traits and soil nutrient features in field populations will be examined and plants will be grown in varying natural ecological settings. Genetic tools will be employed to examine the effects of the disruption of single genes on root traits and their relationships with shoot traits. These data will form the largest ecological dataset for Arabidopsis roots in the field. Roots are critical to successful agriculture and may have positive or negative relationships with other agriculturally important traits. These data will therefore inform agricultural scientists on how root traits, shoot traits, and trait relationships change across environments and with genetic perturbations. This project will engage a diverse group of undergraduate students in the study of whole plant phenotypes as research apprentices, in classroom inquiry based learning, and through service learning experiences to the urban kindergarten community.