Characterization of Genetic Regulatory Networks Controlling Bifacial and Unifacial Leaf Morphology in Legumes

这一行动为NSF国家植物基因组计划2018财年生物学博士后研究奖学金提供了资金。该奖学金支持在东道主实验室为该研究员制定的研究和培训计划，该研究员还提出了扩大生物学参与度的计划。Aaron R.Leichty博士这一奖学金的研究和培训计划的标题是“控制豆科植物双面和单面叶形态的遗传调控网络的特征”。该奖学金的主办机构是加州大学戴维斯分校，赞助科学家是尼利玛·辛哈博士。叶子的形态影响植物生理学，而植物生理学又决定植物可以在哪里生长和繁殖。适应干旱环境的植物通常具有生长在较潮湿环境中的植物所没有的形态特征。这个项目研究了对干旱环境的一种惊人适应的发展：许多木本豆科植物的叶子是垂直定向和径向或垂直对称的。研究主要豆类作物叶片和木本豆科植物叶片背后的遗传调控网络的异同，可能会使作物更好地适应更温暖、更干燥、更多变的气候。培训目标包括比较发育基因组学、系统生物学、生物信息学以及豆科植物的基因表达和调控。更广泛的影响将包括为本科生和高中生提供培训机会，以及开发与植物分子生物学、畜牧业和组织培养相关的高中课程。这个项目的目标是确定豆类植物的双面和单面叶片是如何发育的。为了确定每种叶片类型是如何构成的，激光捕获显微解剖将被用来在叶片形态发生的非常早期对一系列发育阶段进行采样，当叶片的身份和极性被指定时。这些样本将用于RNA-SEQ，所得数据将用于构建基因共表达网络。生物信息学分析将被用来确定由此产生的网络中的重要社区。来自双面和单面网络的群落将被比较，以确定每种树叶类型跨物种的保守成分。分子和反向遗传技术将被用来验证所产生的网络。具体地说，瞬时和稳定的转化将被用来扰乱已识别的基因调控网络中的关键基因，以确认相思和Medicago内部调控联系的差异。对于最有希望的基因，他们的单面表达模式将在Medicago中被模仿，看看双面发育如何容易地转化为单面相似的形态。这项研究的结果将通过陈述和出版公开分享。序列数据和组件将被存放到NCBI序列读取档案馆(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra)，)，NCBI基因表达总括(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/)，)NCBI基因组资源(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome)，并通过适用的NCBI BioProject(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/).Keywords：比较基因组学、植物发育、系统生物学、基因网络、豆科植物、紫花苜蓿、该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This action funds an NSF National Plant Genome Initiative Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2018. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow who also presents a plan to broaden participation in biology. The title of the research and training plan for this fellowship to Dr. Aaron R. Leichty is "Characterization of Genetic Regulatory Networks Controlling Bifacial and Unifacial Leaf Morphology in Legumes". The host institution for the fellowship is the University of California-Davis and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. Neelima Sinha.The morphology of a leaf impacts plant physiology, which in turn determines where a plant can grow and reproduce. Plants adapted to arid environments often have leaves with morphological traits that are not found in plants that grow in wetter environments. This project examines the development of a striking adaptation to arid environments: the leaves of many woody legumes are vertically oriented and radially or vertically symmetric. Examining the similarities and differences in genetic regulatory networks underlying the leaves of major legume crops and the leaves of woody legumes may allow for the engineering of crops better adapted to a warmer, dryer, more variable climate. Training objectives include comparative developmental genomics, systems biology, bioinformatics, and gene expression and regulation in legumes. Broader impacts will include training opportunities for undergraduates and high school students and development of high school curriculum related to plant molecular biology, husbandry, and tissue culture. The goals of this project are to determine how bifacial and unifacial leaves develop in legumes. To determine how each leaf type is constructed, laser capture microdissection will be used to sample a series of developmental stages very early in leaf morphogenesis, when leaf identity and polarity are specified. These samples will be used for RNA-seq and the resulting data will be used to construct gene co-expression networks. Bioinformatic analyses will be used to identify important communities in the resulting networks. Communities from bifacial and unifacial networks will be compared to identify conserved components of each leaf type across species. Molecular and reverse genetic techniques will be used to validate the resulting networks. Specifically, transient and stable transformation will be used to perturb key genes in the identified genetic regulatory networks to confirm differences in regulatory connections within Acacia and Medicago. For the most promising genes, their unifacial expression pattern will be emulated in Medicago to see how easily bifacial development can be transformed into a unifacial-like morphology. The findings of this research will be shared publicly through presentation and publication. Sequence data and assemblies will be deposited to the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra), the NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/), the NCBI Genome resource (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome) and linked through an applicable NCBI BioProject (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/).Keywords: comparative genomics, plant development, systems biology, gene networks, legumes, Medicago truncatula, AcaciaThis 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.