Research Initiation Award: Characterization and development of young leaves of Glyphosate Susceptible Amaranthus palmeri vs Glyphosate Resistant Amaranthus palmeri after exposure

历史黑人学院和大学本科项目(HBCU-UP)研究启动奖(RIA)为HBCU的STEM教员提供支持，让他们在自己的家乡机构、NSF资助的中心、研究密集型机构或国家实验室进行研究。RIA项目预计将有助于进一步提高教师的研究能力和效率，改善他们所在机构的研究和教学，并让本科生参与研究体验。在国家科学基金会的支持下，草原景观农工大学(PVAMU)寻求开展一项研究项目，将生物学、生态学、农业、生物信息学和成像等学术单位联系起来。这项研究评估了冰醋酸对这两种形式的苋菜的影响，并建立了基因组数据的基线。这个项目是与PVAMU计算中心合作的，并为每学期两名本科生提供资金从事研究。参与该项目的学生将得到密切指导。这将包括教授他们新的扫描电子显微镜(SEM)和计算技能，准备然后在地方/国家研究研讨会和/或会议上做海报演示，并讨论长期的职业目标。项目成果将告知科学家和农业社区，哪些不同浓度的醋酸最适合用作可持续的有机杂草控制方法。任何生长控制剂的理念都是使用最少的化学物质，对环境造成最小的变化。传统的除草剂和生长控制剂含有草甘膦类化合物，最初被认为对环境造成的变化最小。在继续使用这些化合物后，科学家们注意到，包括帕尔梅利在内的一些杂草对以草甘膦为基础的除草剂产生了抗药性，从而推翻了对环境损害最小的想法。从这项研究中获得的信息将为进化科学提供重要信息，因为这两个版本的A.Palmeri进化的时间相对较短。每年和地区之间的基因组变化将得到评估，并与醋酸治疗有关。基因组数据将提供对基因组水平上的进化变化的洞察。当植物受到胁迫时，它们往往表现出叶结构、微生物区系和基因组的变化。扫描电子显微镜将被用来确定受醋酸影响的植物发育的最脆弱阶段，并显示叶表面结构和遗传图谱的变化。该研究还分析了使用醋酸的时机对生长控制的影响。这一结果将对其他杂草产生影响。该项目预计将表明，如果及早使用醋酸，并在所需作物出现之前，对环境的变化/破坏将会较小。在适当的时间使用醋酸并将其用作有机杂草防除将成为生产者的示范技术/实践，将降低他们的成本，同时提高生产率。这个项目是新颖的，因为它使用基因组数据来评估发展的每个阶段的醋酸治疗的效果。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities-Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) Research Initiation Awards (RIAs) provide support to STEM faculty at HBCUs to pursue research at their home institution, at an NSF-funded Center, at a research intensive institution or at a national laboratory. The RIA projects are expected to help further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, to improve research and teaching at their home institution, and to involve undergraduate students in research experiences. With support from the National Science Foundation, Prairie View A & M University (PVAMU) seeks to conduct a research project that bridges the academic units of biology, ecology, agriculture, bioinformatics and imaging. This study assesses the impact of acetic acid on the two forms of Amaranthus palmeri and creates a baseline of genomic data. This project is a collaboration with the PVAMU Computational Center and provides funds for two undergraduates to engage in research each semester. Students involved with the project will be closely mentored. This will include teaching them new scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and computational skills, preparing then to make poster presentations at local/national research symposia and/or conferences and discussing long term career goals. Project results will inform scientists and the agricultural community about which varying concentrations of acetic acid can best be used as a sustainable method of organic weed control. The idea for any growth control agent is to use the least amount of chemical and cause the least amount of change to the environment.Traditional herbicides and growth control agents contain glyphosate based compounds and were initially thought to cause minimal change to the environment. After continued use of these compounds, scientists noticed that some weeds, including A. palmeri, became resistant to the glyphosate based herbicides, thus debunking the idea of minimal harm to the environment. The information gained from the study will provide significant information to evolutionary science because the two versions of A. palmeri evolved in a relatively short time frame. Changes in the genome from year to year and region to region will be assessed and related to acetic acid treatments. The genomic data will provide insight into the evolutionary changes at the genome level. When plants are stressed, they often exhibit changes in the leaf structures, microbiota and genome. Scanning Electron Microscopy will be used to determine the most vulnerable stages of plant development impacted by acetic acid and show changes in leaf surface structures and genetic profile. The study also analyzes the impact that timing of the application of acetic acid has on growth control. The results will have implications for other weeds. The project is expected to show that when acetic acid is applied early and before the desired crop emerges, there will be less change/damage to the environment. Applying acetic acid at the right time and using it as an organic weed control will serve as a model technique/practice for producers and will lower their cost while increasing productivity. This project is novel because it uses genomic data to assess the effects of acetic acid treatments at each stage of development.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.