Collaborative Research: EDGE FGT: Development of genetic and functional genomics resources for Ipomoea (morning glory)

在气候变化的时代，了解植物如何适应环境变得比以往任何时候都更加重要。几十年来，牵牛花一直是研究进化生物学基本问题的首选物种，尤其是杂草牵牛花、观赏植物和全球重要的粮食作物甘薯。这种进化研究可以通过现代分子和基因组工具的应用得到帮助；然而，尽管牵牛花是一种迷人的、在经济上很重要的物种，但将基因和形态变异联系起来的资源却很缺乏。该项目结合了最先进的方法来发现DNA的变化如何影响植物的形态和生态功能，包括对环境变化的反应。这些方法在模型牵牛花物种中的发展将扩大当前进化研究的范围。此外，新开发的遗传资源和研究方案的传播将有助于更大的研究界研究植物性状和适应性变异的分子基础。为了吸引包括植物科学家和本科生在内的广大受众，YouTube将开发视频，并为植物进化、遗传学和基因组学的本科生实验课程设计方法。此外，学生艺术家将在Matthaei植物园举行的花园展览中捕捉牵牛花的变化特征，这些艺术作品将在密歇根州安娜堡的自然历史博物馆展出，从而通过多种途径向公众展示。利用多种农杆菌菌株的新型转化技术和通过使用快中子（FN）开发的突变系已经将转化能力扩展到更广泛的植物群体，同样也允许相对快速的随机突变发展，以了解基因功能。该项目将把这些方法应用于已用于生态和进化遗传学应用的牵牛花（Ipomoea）物种（I. purpurea， I. hederacea， I. lacunosa），重要作物甘薯（I. trifida和I. lacunosa）的近亲物种，或系统发育上有用的外群（I. obscura）。拉孔花和紫花花的遗传作图群体将被生成，基因分型，并传播给科学家，以寻求询问一些进化和应用问题。这些群体的基因表达谱也将被生成。植物科学界在转化协议和资源分配方面的教育是这项工作的重要重点。将开发一个Ipomoea Wiki来整合和传播协议、视频和序列数据链接，使研究人员和教育工作者能够重建基因转化的过程，并轻松定位项目数据。在初始清理步骤之后，生成的序列将存储到公共数据库中。该项目将支持1)为本科生研究人员以及包括研究生、博士后研究人员和教授在内的植物科学界成员提供培训机会；2)通过公开展示和艺术表演，捕捉到Ipomoea属物种内部和物种之间的显著和令人难忘的差异。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。

Understanding how plants adapt to their environment has become more important than ever in a time of climate change. For many decades, morning glories have been the species of choice for studying fundamental questions in evolutionary biology, particularly for weedy morning glories, ornamentals, and the globally important food crop, sweetpotato. Such evolutionary studies can be aided through the application of modern molecular and genomic tools; yet, while morning glories are a captivating and economically important group, resources for linking genetics and variation in form are lacking. This project combines state-of-the-art approaches to discover how changes in DNA influence plant form and ecological function including responses to environmental change. The development of these approaches in model morning glory species will broaden the scope of current evolutionary investigations. Further, the dissemination of newly developed genetic resources and research protocols will assist the larger research community studying the molecular basis of variation in plant traits and adaptations. To reach a broad audience, including plant scientists and undergraduate students, YouTube videos will be developed as will methods designed for undergraduate laboratory courses in plant evolution, genetics, and genomics. Additionally, student artists will capture variation in morning glory traits from a garden display held at the Matthaei Botanical Garden, and these artistic renditions will be displayed at the Natural History Museum in Ann Arbor, Michigan, thus reaching the public via multiple avenues.Novel transformation techniques using multiple Agrobacterium strains and the development of mutant lines via the use of fast neutrons (FN) have expanded transformation capabilities to a wider group of plants and have likewise allowed for the relatively rapid development of random mutations for understanding gene function. This project will adapt these methods to morning glory species (Ipomoea) that have been used in ecological and evolutionary genetics applications (I. purpurea, I. hederacea, I. lacunosa), species that are close relatives of the important crop sweetpotato (I. trifida and I. lacunosa), or phylogenetically useful outgroups (I. obscura). Genetic mapping populations for I. lacunosa and I. purpurea will be generated, genotyped, and disseminated for use by scientists that seek to interrogate a number of evolutionary and applied questions. Gene expression profiles for these populations will likewise be generated. Education of the plant science community in transformation protocols and the distribution of resources are significant foci of this work. An Ipomoea Wiki will be developed to integrate and disseminate protocols, videos, and sequence data links to allow researchers and educators to reconstruct the process of genetic transformation and to easily locate project data. Sequences will be deposited to public databases as generated, following initial cleaning steps. This project will support 1) training opportunities for undergraduate researchers along with members of the plant science community including graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and professors, 2) public displays and artistic renditions that capture the remarkable and memorable variation found within and between species belonging to the Ipomoea genus.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.