The role of D14-LIKE in the perception of arbuscular mycorrhizal signals in rice and its evolutionary significance in arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis

博士项目战略主题：可持续农业和食品生物科学丛枝菌根真菌（AMF）的根定殖受植物的生理和发育状态的严格调控。水稻α/β受体DWARF 14-LIKE（D14 L）的突变阻断丛枝菌根共生（AMS）并使根对真菌分泌物不敏感（Gutjahr等人，2015年;萨默斯，未出版）。D14 L似乎作为一个中心节点的多个输入共生前信号，因为d14 l突变体是有缺陷的正常转录重编程所需的适应AMF（萨默斯，未发表）。假设D14 L在与D3的复合物中起作用，以降解水稻中的转录阻遏物SMAX 1，从而指导共生反应（Choi等人，出版中）。然而，对d14 l表型的严重性缺乏详细的功能解释，并且D14 L如何与其他共生前组分联系在一起仍然不清楚。该博士学位的目的是通过识别由SMAX 1调控的关键转录因子并研究其连接性和进化保守性来阐明D14 L信号转导下游的转录网络。为了了解D14 L-SMAX 1调节子，突变体表型和转录组学数据的分析，结合大规模转录组学实验，蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用和遗传学，将用于研究D14 L信号在AMS中的重要性。

PhD project strategic theme: Bioscience for sustainable agriculture and foodRoot colonisation by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) is tightly regulated by the plant depending on its physiological and developmental status. Mutation of the rice alpha/beta receptor DWARF14-LIKE (D14L) blocks arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis (AMS) and renders roots insensitive to fungal exudates (Gutjahr et al., 2015; Summers, unpublished). D14L appears to function as a central node for multiple inputs to pre-symbiosis signalling, as the d14l mutant is defective in the normal transcriptional reprogramming required to accommodate AMF (Summers, unpublished). D14L is hypothesised to function in a complex with D3 to degrade the transcriptional repressor SMAX1 in rice to direct a symbiotic response (Choi et al., in press). However, a detailed functional explanation for the severity of the d14l phenotype is lacking and how D14L ties together with other pre-symbiosis components remains unclear. The aim of this PhD is to elucidate the transcriptional networks downstream of D14L signalling by identifying key transcription factors regulated by SMAX1 and studying their connectivity and evolutionary conservation. To understand the D14L-SMAX1 regulon, analyses of mutant phenotypes and transcriptomics data, in conjunction with a large scale transcriptomics experiment, protein-protein interactions, and phylogenetics, will be used to investigate the importance of D14L signalling in AMS.