Analysis of the Vernalization Regulatory Network in the Model Grass Brachypodium distachyon

开花时间对植物的生存至关重要，在农业环境中，适当的开花时间对最大产量至关重要。在许多植物物种中，开花发生在一年中的特定时间，以响应对季节线索的感知，如白天长度和温度的变化。这个项目的目的是进一步了解开花时间是如何在分子水平上由环境因素调节的。尽管禾草包括重要的粮食作物，如小麦、水稻和玉米，以及潜在的生物能源作物，如柳枝稷、高粱和芒草，但人们对禾草的开花是如何在分子水平上调控的知之甚少。本项目将采用短柄草（Brachypodium distachyon）作为模型，因为这种草在开花行为上表现出很大范围的自然变异，这是遗传上可处理的，并且很容易确定不同短柄草品种之间开花遗传差异的基因。这个项目所获得的理解有可能为旨在提高粮食和生物能源作物生产力的研究提供信息。该项目将培养研究生和博士后独立从事科学事业，并将为本科生提供学习遗传学，分子生物学和植物生物学研究的机会。我们也鼓励从事这个项目的学生和博士后为我们的努力做出贡献，将植物生物学的理解带入K-12课堂。

The timing of flowering is critical for plant survival, and in agricultural settings proper timing of flowering is critical for maximal yield. In many plant species, flowering occurs at a particular time of year in response to the sensing of seasonal cues such as changes in the length of day and temperature. This project is designed to further our understanding of how the timing of flowering is regulated by environmental cues at a molecular level in the grasses. Despite the fact that grasses include important food crops such as wheat, rice and corn and potential bioenergy crops such as switchgrass, sorghum and miscanthus, little is known about how flowering is regulated at a molecular level in the grasses. This project will employ Brachypodium distachyon as a model because this grass species exhibits a large range of natural variation in flowering behavior that is genetically tractable, and it is straightforward to identify the genes responsible for genetic differences in flowering among different Brachypodium varieties. Understanding achieved by this project has the potential to inform research designed to improve the productivity of food and bioenergy crops. This project will result in the training of graduate students and postdocs for independent careers in science, and will provide undergraduates with an opportunity to learn about research in genetics, molecular biology and plant biology. Students and postdocs working on this project are also encouraged to contribute to our efforts to bring understanding of plant biology into K-12 classrooms.