Improving plant cold tolerance to enhance agricultural resilience to abiotic stress

非生物胁迫对光合作用和作物生产都有重大影响，这些损失预计将通过气候变化引起的环境不可预测性而增加。叶绿体中的光合作用是所有农业生产力的基础，因此了解叶绿体在胁迫反应中的作用是开发未来抗逆作物的重要组成部分。叶绿体含有一个蓝藻起源的小的环状基因组，编码光合作用装置的基本组成部分。这一博士学位将建立在我们最近在向叶绿体传递环境信息的信号通路方面的突破上(Noordally等人。《科学》2013；贝尔宾等人。新植物油。2017年)。在这个项目中，学生将研究叶绿体基因表达的变化如何使植物适应寒冷的温度。这项研究将结合使用模式植物拟南芥的基础实验，研究结果将被转化为小麦，以了解这些信号机制如何提高一种全球重要作物的非生物逆境耐受性。本项目将研究以下问题：1.叶绿体基因的表达如何提高拟南芥的耐冷性？这将包括研究ROS产生、细胞生物化学、信号转导和光合作用的实验。2.耐冷性、叶绿体与生物钟之间的关系是什么？这将涉及生理和光合作用分析，结合生物发光昼夜时程成像和分子方法来解决这个问题。3.调控叶绿体基因表达的机制如何提高小麦的耐冷性？这些实验将使用一种名为Apogee的小型、快速循环小麦品种作为实验模型系统。这将涉及CRISPR-Cas9基因组编辑以及一系列光合作用和生理研究。该项目将为植物非生物胁迫耐受性的分子和生理过程提供重要的新见解。

Abiotic stresses have a substantial impact upon both photosynthesis and crop production, with these losses predicted to grow through the environmental unpredictability arising from climate change. Photosynthesis within chloroplasts underlies all agricultural productivity, so understanding the role of chloroplasts in stress responses is an important part of developing stress-resilient crops for the future. Chloroplasts contain a small circular genome of cyanobacterial origin that encodes essential components of the photosynthetic apparatus. This PhD studentship will build on our recent breakthroughs into the signalling pathways that communicate environmental information to chloroplasts (Noordally et al. Science 2013; Belbin et al. New Phytol. 2017). In this project, the student will investigate how changes in chloroplast gene expression adapt plants to cold temperatures. The research will combine underpinning experiments using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, and findings will be translated into wheat to understand how these signalling mechanisms improve the abiotic stress tolerance of a globally-important crop. The project will investigate the following questions: 1. How does chloroplast gene expression increase the cold tolerance of Arabidopsis? This will involve experiments studying ROS production, cellular biochemistry, signal transduction and photosynthesis. 2. What is the relationship between cold tolerance, chloroplasts and the circadian clock? This will involve physiological and photosynthetic assays, combined with bioluminescence circadian time- course imaging and molecular methods, to address this question. 3. How is the cold tolerance of wheat enhanced by mechanisms that regulate chloroplast gene expression? These experiments will use a small, rapid cycling variety of wheat called Apogee as an experimental model system. This will involve CRISPR-CAS9 genome editing alongside a range of photosynthetic and physiological studies. The project will provide important new insights into molecular and physiological processes that underlie abiotic stress tolerance of plants.