NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2019: Leveraging Natural Variation to Understand Desiccation Tolerance in the Resurrection Plant Myrothamnus flabellifolia

本行动资助NSF国家植物基因组计划2019财年生物学博士后研究奖学金。该奖学金支持奖学金获得者在主办实验室的研究和培训计划，该奖学金获得者还提出了扩大生物学参与的计划。Rose Marks的研究和培训计划的标题是“利用自然变异来了解复活植物Myrothamnus flabellifolia的干燥耐受性”。该奖学金的主办机构是密歇根州立大学和开普敦大学（南非），赞助科学家是dr。罗伯特·范布伦和吉尔·法兰特。植物受到全球气候变化、气候模式变异性增加以及相关的非生物胁迫的威胁。特别是水资源短缺，是农业损失的主要原因。为了改善粮食安全，至关重要的是开发战略和新技术，以提高作物的抗旱性。这个研究项目是基于这样一个前提，即天然的抗逆性植物包含了丰富的信息来源，可以用于作物改良和生物工程的努力。该项目的目的是全面表征极端抗旱复活植物黄叶的遗传、生理和生态机制。培训和指导方面的更广泛影响包括制定一项国际指导计划，密歇根州立大学和开普敦大学（UCT）的学生将在研究员的指导下合作开展研究活动。外展活动包括提高文化意识的计划，并使当地社区参与到培育黄连枝的社会效益中来，因为黄连枝的次生化合物可用于医药和化妆品应用。培训目标包括获得植物生理学、生物化学、基因组学、生态学和数量遗传学方面的专业知识。干燥耐受性是一种耐旱性，使组织能够从极端干燥（即绝对含水量低于-100 MPa）中恢复。填补我们对干旱耐受性的认识空白是防止干旱造成的损失和确保全球粮食安全的重要一步。该项目的总体目标是为支撑脱水耐受性的细胞，分子和生理机制提供新的见解。具体目标包括：1)在独特且研究不足的复活植物Myrothamnus flabellifolia中建立一个干燥耐受性多样性小组；2)在极端水分有效度梯度上，表征了黄杨种群间的干燥耐受性表型差异；3)描述光合作用对干燥的反应和保护性次生代谢物，以深入了解干燥耐受性变异的细胞和分子基础；4)通过转录组测序和基因组测序，获得黄毛兰的序列资源，用于通过eQTL关联作图鉴定干旱响应变异的目标位点。项目期间产生的所有序列数据将在NCBI Short Read Archive （https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/）中存档。所有产生和/或用于这些研究的种质都将保存在UCT，并应要求提供。代金券标本将送交Bolus植物标本室（www.bolus.uct.ac.za/）（南非）。此外，该项目产生的实验结果将存入Figshare数据存储库（https://digitalscience.figshare.com/），并通过期刊出版物和在科学会议上的发言传播。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识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 2019. 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 Rose Marks is "Leveraging Natural Variation to Understand Desiccation Tolerance in the Resurrection Plant Myrothamnus flabellifolia". The host institutions for the fellowship are Michigan State University and the University of Cape Town (South Africa) and the sponsoring scientists are Drs. Robert VanBuren and Jill Farrant. Plants are threatened by global change, increasing variability in weather patterns, and associated abiotic stress. Water shortage, in particular, is a primary cause of agricultural loss. In order to improve food security, it is critical that strategies and new technologies be developed to enhance water-stress tolerance in crops. This research project is based on the premise that naturally stress tolerant plants comprise a rich source of information that can be mined for crop improvement and bioengineering efforts. The goal of the project is to comprehensively characterize the genetic, physiological, and ecological mechanisms of tolerance in the extremely drought tolerant resurrection plant M. flabellifolia. Broader impacts with respect to training and mentoring include developing an international mentorship program in which students from both Michigan State University and the University of Cape Town (UCT) will collaborate in research activities under the guidance of the Fellow. Outreach activities include a plan to increase cultural awareness and engage local communities in the societal benefits of cultivating M. flabellifolia for its secondary compounds of use in medicinal and cosmetic applications. Training objectives include acquiring expertise in plant physiology, biochemistry, genomics, ecology and quantitative genetics.Desiccation tolerance is a form of drought tolerance that enables tissues to recover from extreme drying (i.e., below an absolute water content of -100 MPa). Filling knowledge gaps in our understanding of desiccation tolerance is an important step towards preventing drought induced losses and ensuring global food security. The overall goal of this project is to provide new insight into the cellular, molecular and physiological mechanisms that underpin desiccation tolerance. Specific aims include: 1) establishing a desiccation tolerance diversity panel in the unique and understudied resurrection plant Myrothamnus flabellifolia; 2) characterizing phenotypic differences in desiccation tolerance among M. flabellifolia populations occurring along an extreme water availability gradient; 3) characterizing photosynthetic responses to desiccation and protective secondary metabolites to provide insight into the cellular and molecular basis for variability in desiccation tolerance; and 4) generating sequence resources for M. flabellifolia through transcriptome and genome sequencing for use in identifying target loci for variation in drought response via eQTL association mapping. All sequence data generated during the project will be made available in the NCBI Short Read Archive (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/) for archiving. All germplasm generated and/or used for these studies will be maintained and stored at UCT and made available upon request. Voucher specimens will be submitted to the Bolus Herbarium (www.bolus.uct.ac.za/) (South Africa). In addition, experimental results generated from this project will be deposited at the Figshare data repository (https://digitalscience.figshare.com/) and disseminated through journal publications and presentations at scientific meetings.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.