EAGER: Developing Stress Tolerant Plants Through Cytoplasmic mMdification

PI：Shahryar F. Kianian（明尼苏达大学双城分校/ USDA-ARS谷物疾病实验室）CoPI：Changbin Chen（明尼苏达大学双城分校）细胞核和细胞质基因组之间的相互作用在所有真核生物的发育中起着关键作用。已知数百种人类疾病和植物中的许多表型变异是影响这种通信的改变的结果。然而，在植物中的核质相互作用的性质知之甚少。小麦具有比任何其他哺乳动物、昆虫或植物系统更大的含有来自野生和相关物种的细胞质基因组的异质系阵列，并且是用于研究核-细胞质相互作用的理想模型系统。PI实验室的研究表明，含有野生小麦近缘种细胞质的异质系与相应的真细胞质系相比，抗病性、活力和生产力显着提高。来自这些品系的测序数据还显示，不仅线粒体基因组通过核基因组的替换而改变，而且这些改变导致线粒体基因表达模式的改变。EAGER的这一建议将研究细胞质修饰在作物抗逆性中的作用，为作物抗生物和非生物胁迫育种提供一条新的途径。 具体目标是：1）通过调查约100个异质系对病原体和盐胁迫的抗性来确定细胞质基因组对生物和非生物胁迫耐受性的程度和作用; 2）鉴定负责改变对生物和非生物胁迫的响应的细胞质基因组;以及3）调查细胞质基因组对胁迫耐受性的影响的分子机制。该项目将促进对细胞质基因组在提供植物对生物和非生物胁迫的耐受性方面所起作用的理解，并将在育种中发挥重要作用。目前的育种策略完全依赖于优势物种的同质细胞质背景。这项研究可以改变这种模式，利用野生物种的细胞质基因组，赋予生物和非生物胁迫的耐受性。 研究活动将与明尼苏达大学旨在招募和培训各级学生的计划相结合。根据博士后助理设计的个人发展计划，博士后科学家将得到两名PI的指导和建议，并接受基因组学、生物信息学、赠款撰写、网络和教学方面的培训。该项目产生的所有测序数据将存放在公共数据库如NCBI中。该项目开发的种质将根据要求通过美国农业部国家小谷物收集中心提供。

PI: Shahryar F. Kianian (University of Minnesota-Twin Cities/ USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory)CoPI: Changbin Chen (University of Minnesota-Twin Cities)The interaction between the nuclear and cytoplasmic genomes plays a critical role in the development of all eukaryotes. Hundreds of human diseases and many phenotypic variations in plants are known to be the result of alterations affecting this communication. However, the nature of nuclear-cytoplasmic interactions in plants is poorly understood. Wheat has the largest array of alloplasmic lines containing cytoplasmic genomes derived from wild and related species than any other mammalian, insect, or plant system and is an ideal model system for the study of nuclear-cytoplasmic interactions. Studies in the PI's laboratory showed that alloplasmic lines containing cytoplasm from wild wheat relatives showed significantly increased disease resistance, vigor, and productivity when compared to the corresponding euplasmic (with true cytoplasm) lines. Sequencing data from these lines also show that not only does the mitochondrial genome change by replacement of the nuclear genome but that those changes result in alteration of mitochondrial gene expression patterns. This EAGER proposal will investigate the role of cytoplasmic modifications in stress tolerance which could provide a new way of breeding for biotic and abiotic stress in crop plants. The specific objectives are to: 1) determine the extent and role of cytoplasmic genomes on biotic and abiotic stress tolerance by investigating ~100 alloplasmic lines for resistance to pathogens and salt stress; 2) identify the cytoplasmic genome that is responsible for the altered response to biotic and abiotic stress; and 3) investigate the molecular mechanism underlying the effect of cytoplasmic genomes on stress tolerance. This project will advance understanding of the role that cytoplasmic genomes play in providing increased tolerance to biotic and abiotic stressin plants and will be important in breeding. Current breeding strategies rely purely on homogeneous cytoplasmic background of the predominant species. This study could change this paradigm to take advantage of cytoplasmic genomes from wild species that confer tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress. The research activities will be interfaced with the University of Minnesota's programs designed to recruit and train students at all levels. A postdoctoral scientist will be mentored and advised by the two PIs and given training in genomics, bioinformatics, grant writing, networking and teaching, according to the individual development plan designed by the postdoctoral associate. All sequencing data generated by this project will be deposited in public databases such as NCBI. The germplasm developed by this project will be made available upon request through the USDA National Small Grains Collection.