Understanding adaptation to increase temperature robustness in wheat

小麦是英国的主要可耕种作物，为人类和牲畜提供了全球卡路里、蛋白质和微量营养需求的很大比例。目前的预测表明，全球气温每升高1摄氏度，小麦产量将减少4.1-6.3%，但到2050年，估计需要增加60%的产量，以满足不断增长的人口的需求。为了应对这一挑战并提高小麦产量对气候变化的可靠性，我们必须了解植物对温度的反应。我将利用小麦中自然存在的遗传多样性，并将其与最近精选的突变种群和新注释的小麦基因组序列相结合，以识别与小麦温度适应有关的基因和生物过程。目前，我们还不了解小麦在6-24摄氏度的标准生长条件下对温度的反应的遗传或分子基础。我最近的研究集中在这个温度范围内，并挑战了对越冬(春化)的反应只发生在摄氏6度的假设。这是在我观察到在低温春化过程中起作用的相同基因的热激活后发现的。这增加了许多参与春化反应的基因也可以用来调节和提高作物在较高环境温度下的稳健性和产量的可能性。我计划在这一发现的基础上，通过识别在田间条件下调节从营养生长到生殖生长的关键发育转变的其他基因，然后探索这些基因如何发挥作用(目标1)。到目前为止，大多数关于温度反应的研究都局限于恒定的受控温度条件，但我的研究表明，植物对不同温度的反应机制，例如生长在田间的作物所经历的机制，实际上是非常不同的。我还将研究已被证明对春化起重要作用的基因的分子功能，并确定它们与哪些蛋白质相互作用，以及它们在不同温度条件下如何发挥作用(目标2和3)。最后，我将研究在实验条件下加速春化的方法，以增加对需要春化的小麦的研究和育种能力(目标4)。这项研究是及时的，因为它结合了我在理解小麦温度反应的分子基础方面的最新进展，以及新发布的(2018)小麦基因组序列、精心挑选的突变种群和高通量基因组测序能力。研究金将在布里斯托尔大学进行，因为这将促进跨学科合作以及著名的生物科学学院内部的合作。此外，布里斯托尔还建立了现场试验点和世界领先的测序资源，这两者对这项研究都很重要。该奖学金还将支持研究员和行业之间的合作，使这项研究的知识交流能够影响小麦在不同环境条件下的表现。这项研究将促进我们对小麦温度适应的了解，并使我们能够对植物如何利用温度来调节关键的发育决策形成一个完整的理解。这将产生社会效益，提供可在小麦育种行业中利用的信息和资源，例如，减少育种周期的持续时间，并提供方法来提高小麦产量对与气候变化相关的不稳定温度模式的稳健性。

Wheat is the UK's primary arable crop and provides a large proportion of the global calorie, protein and micro-nutrient requirements for both humans and livestock. Current predictions indicate that a 1C increase in global temperature would lead to a 4.1-6.3% decrease in wheat yield, yet yield needs to be increased by an estimated 60% by 2050 to meet the demands of a growing population. To address this challenge and improve the reliability of the wheat yield to changing climates we must understand how plants respond to temperature. I will utilise the naturally existing genetic diversity in wheat and combine this with recently curated mutant populations and the newly annotated wheat genome sequence to identify genes and biological processes involved in temperature adaptation in wheat. Currently, we do not understand the genetic or molecular basis of how wheat responds to temperatures under standard growing conditions, ~6-24C. My recent research focuses on this temperature range and has challenged the assumption that the response to overwintering (vernalization) only occurs at < 6C. This was identified after I observed heat activation of the same genes that function in low temperature vernalization. This raises the possibility that many of the genes involved in the vernalization response can also be employed to regulate and increase crop robustness and yield at higher ambient temperatures. I plan to build on this discovery by identifying other genes involved in regulating the key developmental transition from vegetative to reproductive growth under field conditions, and then explore how these genes function (Objective 1). To date the majority of research on temperature responses has been limited to constant controlled temperature conditions, yet my research indicates that the mechanisms by which plants respond to variable temperatures, such as those experienced by crop plants growing in the field, are actually quite different. I will also investigate the molecular function of genes which have been shown to be important in vernalization and identify the proteins they interact with and how they function under different temperature conditions (Objectives 2 and 3). Finally, I will investigate methods to accelerate vernalization under experimental conditions to increase research and wheat breeding capabilities with wheat that requires vernalization (Objective 4). This Fellowship is timely as it combines my recent advances in understanding the molecular basis of temperature responses in wheat with the newly (2018) released wheat genome sequence, curated mutant populations and high-throughput genome sequencing capabilities. The Fellowship will be conducted at the University of Bristol as this will facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations as well as collaborations within the renowned School of Biological Sciences. In addition, Bristol has established field trial sites and world-leading sequencing resources, both of which are important for this research. The Fellowship will also support collaboration between the Fellow and industry to enable knowledge exchange from this research to influence the performance of wheat under diverse environmental conditions. This research will advance our knowledge of temperature adaptation in wheat and enable the formation of an integrated understanding of how plants use temperature to regulate key developmental decisions. This will have societal benefit by providing information and resources that can be exploited in the wheat breeding industry, for example, to reduce the duration of breeding cycles and provide methods to increase the robustness of wheat yield to the erratic temperature patterns associated with climate change.