Characterizing the Role of Transcriptional Repression in Maize Development and Domestication

世界上大部分的粮食供应直接或间接地由几种栽培谷物提供。谷物的主要食用产品——谷物，是通过一种叫做小穗的特殊结构的繁殖过程产生的，小穗最终会开花。小穗的形成是由在发育过程中特定时间起作用的基因网络精心调节的。这是通过激活或抑制机制来精确控制基因活性来实现的。玉米REL2蛋白在许多发育过程中对基因活性的抑制至关重要，其中包括调控小花和花的形成。本文主要研究了玉米这一重要经济作物的发育过程中REL2和REL2样蛋白的作用。总的来说，本研究将揭示控制小穗和花形成的分子机制，并将对玉米和其他农学价值物种的基础和应用植物研究产生深远的影响。该项目将影响本科生和博士后研究人员，为他们提供广泛的遗传、发育和基因组技能。高中学生和教师也将接受培训，了解生物系统中蛋白质相互作用网络的重要性。该研究整合了遗传学、分子学和基因组学方法，分析了REL2介导的转录抑制在玉米发育过程中的作用，最终将导致：1)REL2协抑制基因家族的功能表征；Ii)建立小穗和花形成的综合模型；Iii)对玉米小穗驯化关键步骤的机理理解；iv)在不同发育途径中介导转录抑制的新蛋白的发现。

Most of the world's food supply is provided either directly or indirectly by a few cultivated cereal species. Cereals generate their main edible product, grains, through a reproductive process that takes place in specialized structures called spikelets, which eventually give rise to flowers. Spikelet formation is carefully regulated by a network of genes that function at specific times during development. This is achieved through precise control of gene activity, either by activating or repressing mechanisms. The maize REL2 protein is essential for repressing gene activity in many developmental processes, among which are those that regulate the formation of spikelets and flowers. In this proposal the role of REL2 and REL2-like proteins are investigated in the development of maize, an economically important crop species. Overall, this research will reveal the molecular mechanisms controlling spikelet and flower formation, and will have far-reaching ramifications for both basic and applied plant research in maize and other agronomically valuable species. This project will impact undergraduate students and a post-doctoral researcher, providing them with a broad range of genetic, developmental, and genomic skills. High-school students and teachers will also be trained and exposed to the importance of protein interaction networks in biological systems.The proposed research integrates genetic, molecular and genomic approaches to dissect the role of REL2-mediated transcriptional repression during maize development and will ultimately lead to: i) the functional characterization of the REL2 corepressor gene family; ii) the development of an integrated model for spikelet and flower formation; iii) a mechanistic understanding of a key step in the domestication of maize spikelets; and iv) the discovery of new proteins mediating transcriptional repression in different developmental pathways.