Roles of proteins in root exudates in root-soil interactions in monocots (wheat) and dicots (Arabidopsis)

全球粮食安全取决于减少人类对水和耕地可获得性的影响。了解植物如何与环境相互作用，以及哪些性状增强了这些相互作用，可以帮助开发出产量更高、资源效率更高的作物品种。在更干燥或更潮湿的条件下，需要更少的水并减少土壤侵蚀的植物很有希望成为未来可以抵御气候变化挑战的作物。了解被称为分泌物的化合物是如何影响植物生长的，可以改善作物选择和栽培实践。研究调节分泌物合成和沉积的分子和细胞机制可以描述它们如何促进植物根系健康、植物群落和植物与环境的相互作用。该项目将有关拟南芥分泌物的信息应用于小麦，以发现双子叶植物和单子叶植物之间分泌物的组成和功能保存得有多好。了解分泌物如何影响植物生长和土壤稳定性，可以加强作物发展和粮食安全。项目：你将使用蛋白质组学数据集来确认现有的候选基因，并确定新的拟南芥分泌物的小麦同源基因。使用拟南芥中的遗传工具，你将验证这些候选突变体中的根黏附表型，并比较转基因拟南芥和小麦品系的表型。你将开发小麦种质中渗出物差异的筛子，并测试小麦渗出物的组成或沉积如何影响根-土壤相互作用。您将学习使用生物信息学、遗传学、分子/细胞生物学、显微镜和土壤学来评估双子叶和单子叶植物根分泌物之间影响根土壤凝聚力和植物生长的基因表达和蛋白质功能的机制。在Rothamsted，你将有机会接触到尖端的农业研究设施，将格里尔森实验室使用的基于拟南芥的实验室技术与作物科学相吻合。Rothamsted拥有一个多样化的科学社区，将在动态的研究环境中提供培训。CASE与Lettus Growth的合作伙伴关系为评估拟南芥和小麦幼苗的根系生物学和分泌物收集提供了新的工具。你还将参加LettUs Growth的实习，与一位有前途的行业领导者一起学习垂直农业和生长系统的开发。与诺丁汉的Mooney实验室的合作将使用X射线计算机断层扫描技术评估拟南芥和小麦突变体的根-土壤相互作用。该项目的成果将对将基础植物生物学转化为农业进步以及在可持续农业和土地管理中的广泛应用产生潜在的影响。

Global food security depends on reducing human impacts on water and arable soil availability. Understanding how plants interact with their environments and what traits enhance these interactions could aid development of crop varieties with increased yields and resource efficiency. Plants that require less water and reduce soil erosion in drier or wetter conditions are promising candidates for future crops that can resist several of the challenges of climate change. Understanding how secreted compounds called exudates affect plant growth could improve crop choice and cultivation practices. Investigating molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate exudate synthesis and deposition can describe how they contribute to plant root health, plant communities, and plant-environment interactions. This project applies information about exudates from Arabidopsis to wheat to discover how well conserved exudate composition and function are between dicots and monocots. Knowing how exudates affect plant growth and soil stability could enhance crop development and food security. The Project: You will use proteomics datasets to confirm existing candidates and identify new wheat orthologs of Arabidopsis exudates. Using the genetic tools in Arabidopsis, you will verify root-adhesion phenotypes in the mutants of these candidates and compare the phenotypes of transgenic Arabidopsis and wheat lines. You will develop screens for exudate variance in wheat germplasm and test how wheat exudate composition or deposition affect root-soil interactions. You will learn to use bioinformatics, genetics, molecular/cell biology, microscopy, and soil science to evaluate the mechanisms of gene expression and protein function between dicot and monocot plant root exudates that affect root soil cohesion and plant growth. At Rothamsted, you will have access to cutting-edge agricultural research facilities to dovetail Arabidopsis-based lab techniques used in the Grierson lab with crop science. Rothamsted houses a diverse science community that will provide training in a dynamic research environment. The CASE partnership with LettUs Grow provides access to new tools for evaluating root biology and exudate collection in Arabidopsis and wheat seedlings. You will also participate in a placement at LettUs Grow to learn about vertical farming and growth system development with an up-and-coming industrial leader. The collaboration with the Mooney lab at Nottingham will evaluate root-soil interactions in Arabidopsis and wheat mutants using X-ray Computed Tomography. The outcome of this project will have potential implications in the translation of basic plant biology to agricultural advancement, as well as broad applications in sustainable farming and land management.