Deciphering the developmental basis of carpel and fruit shape

几乎所有的水果、谷物和种子都是由心皮产生的——心皮是位于花的中心的一个封闭器官，它容纳胚珠并促进它们的受精。关键的是，从我们的角度来看，心皮在决定水果、谷物或种子收获的产量方面起着至关重要的作用。因此，了解心皮是如何形成的，对于解释水果是如何产生的，水果多样性是如何产生的，以及它是如何受到植物生长环境条件的影响是至关重要的。该项目解决了以下问题：基因如何控制导致心皮产生的生长过程？这些基因和过程是如何被修改以产生不同的心皮形状的？-环境压力（如高温和干旱）如何影响心皮生成的过程？我们将通过研究白菜科模式物种拟南芥（拟南芥）和具有重要农艺学意义的豆科植物豌豆（Pisum sativum）心皮形成的调控机制来回答这些问题。为了确定控制花芽内心皮形成的机制，我们将研究基因如何影响细胞分裂和细胞生长。为了理解心皮形状的不同是如何产生的，我们将比较两种心皮形状不同的植物（泰勒斯、芥蓝和豌豆）中相关基因的活性和产生心皮的生长模式。为了确定这些过程如何对环境胁迫做出反应，我们将植物置于高温和/或干旱环境中，并测量胁迫对心皮发育和果实生产的影响。当我们研究基因如何控制这两个物种花蕾的生长从而产生心皮时，我们将能够剖析果实多样性的进化史。当我们测试这些过程如何受到高温和低水可用性的影响时，我们将能够理解植物如何通过发育来响应环境做出决策。我们的研究结果将使我们能够预测水果生产将如何应对日益增长的环境压力，并在不断变化的世界中提高重要农艺作物的水果和种子生产。

Nearly all fruit, grains and seeds are produced by the carpel - a closed organ located in the centre of flowers, that houses the ovules and facilitates their fertilization. Critically, from our perspective, the carpel plays a crucial part in determining the yield of crops harvested for fruit, grain or seed. Therefore understanding how the carpel is formed is fundamental to explaining how fruit is produced, how fruit diversity arises, and how it is affected by the environmental conditions in which plants grow.This project addresses the following questions: - how do genes control the growth processes that lead to production of the carpel? - how are these genes and processes modified to produce a different carpel shapes? - how are the processes that lead to carpel production affected by environmental stress such as heat and drought? We will answer these questions by studying the mechanisms that regulate carpel formation in the model species thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), a member of the cabbage family, and the agronomically important legume species pea (Pisum sativum). To identify the mechanisms that control how the carpel is formed within the floral bud we will investigate how genes influence cell division and cell growth. To understand how different carpel shapes are produced we will compare the activity of genes of interest and the growth patterns that generate the carpel in two plant species with different carpel shapes (thale cress and pea). To determine how these processes respond to environmental stress we will subject plants to high temperatures and/or drought and measure the effect of stress on carpel development and fruit production. As we study how genes control growth in the flower bud to produce the carpel in the two species we will be able to dissect the evolutionary history of fruit diversity. As we test how these processes are affected by elevated temperatures and low water availability we will be able to understand how plants make decisions through development in response to the environment. The results of our research will enable us to predict how fruit production will respond to growing environmental pressures, and improve fruit and seed production in agronomically important crops in a changing world.