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，特别是杂草牵牛花、观赏植物和全球重要的粮食作物甘薯。这样的进化研究可以通过现代分子和基因组工具的应用来辅助；然而，尽管牵牛花是一个迷人的、经济上重要的群体，但缺乏将遗传学和形式变异联系起来的资源。该项目结合了最先进的方法，以发现DNA的变化如何影响植物形态和生态功能，包括对环境变化的反应。这些方法在模式牵牛花物种中的发展将拓宽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特征和适应变异的分子基础。为了接触到包括植物科学家和本科生在内的广泛受众，将开发YouTube视频，以及为植物进化、遗传学和基因组学的本科生实验室课程设计的方法。此外，学生艺术家将从Matthaei植物园举行的花园展示中捕捉牵牛花特征的变化，这些艺术再现将在密歇根州安娜堡的自然历史博物馆展出，从而通过多种途径与公众见面。使用多个农杆菌菌株的新颖转化技术和利用快中子(FN)开发突变系的新技术将转化能力扩展到更广泛的植物群体，同样允许相对快速地发展随机突变来了解基因功能。该项目将使这些方法适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)、与重要农作物甘薯(I.trifida)和I.lacunosa(I.lacunosa)近亲的物种，或在系统发育上有用的外类群(I.Darcura)。我们将为科学家制作、基因分型和传播，寻找一些进化性和应用性问题的科学家可以使用这些遗传图谱。这些人群的基因表达谱也将同样生成。植物科学界在转化方案和资源分配方面的教育是这项工作的重要重点。将开发Ipomoea Wiki，以整合和传播协议、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过程，并轻松定位项目数据。在最初的清理步骤之后，序列将在生成时存储到公共数据库中。该项目将支持1)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的培训机会，2)公开展示和艺术再现，捕捉属于Ipomoea属的物种内部和之间发现的显著和令人难忘的差异。该奖项反映了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。

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.