Pheromonal control of gamete determination and differentiation in Ceratopteris

在动物中，个体的性别及其产生的配子通常由依赖于特定染色体的过程决定，例如人类的X和Y染色体。 由于配子的产生对植物的繁殖是必不可少的，因此对植物的这一过程所知甚少。 该项目旨在发现植物性别是如何使用一种物种来确定的，该物种的性别是由雌雄同体个体产生的化学信息素决定的，并导致其邻居成为男性。 为了确定信息素的存在或不存在如何在分子水平上决定性别类型，将通过对表达的基因进行测序来鉴定在整个雄性和雌雄同体发育过程中表达的所有基因，并鉴定性别决定和分化的共表达网络。 使用简单的反向遗传学方法（RNAi），将测试转录因子的功能，这些转录因子的表达随性别而显著变化。 植物性别决定基因的发现对粮食生产具有重要影响，因为谷物、水果和种子的生产取决于植物在正确的时间和地点产生卵子和精子的能力。 所描述的研究将由本科生和研究生进行，包括科学代表性不足的群体的成员，为他们提供生物学，生物化学，统计学，生物信息学和批判性思维方面的培训。

In animals, the gender of an individual and the gamete it produces is typically determined by a process that depends on specific chomosomes, such as the X and Y chromosomes in humans. Very little is known about this process in plants despte the fact that the production of gametes is essential for plants to reproduce. This project seeks to discover how plant gender is determined using a species whose gender is epigenetically determined by a chemical pheromone that is produced by hermaphroditic individuals and causes its neighbors to become male. To determine how the presence or absence of the pheromone determines gender type at the molecular level, all of the genes that are expressed throughout male and hermaphrodite development will be identified by sequencing expressed genes, and co-expression networks underlying gender determination and differentiation identified. Using a simple reverse genetics approach (RNAi), the functions of transcription factors that change significantly in their expression with respect to gender will be tested. The discovery of plant gender-determining genes has important implications in food production, as grain, fruit and seed production depend on a plant's ability to produce egg and sperm at the right time and place. The research described will be performed by undergraduate and graduate students, including members of groups underrepresented in science, providing them with training in biology, biochemistry, statistics, bioinformatics and critical thinking.