Functional Genomics of Maize Centromeres

玉米着丝粒的功能基因组学

• 批准号: 9975827
• 负责人: R Kelly Dawe
• 金额: $ 251万
• 依托单位: University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-09-01 至 2005-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9975827&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Functional; Genomics; Maize; Centromeres

Centromeres are long stretches of DNA that, along with a set of proteins known as kinetochore proteins, are responsible for ensuring that chromosomes are accurately segregated and passed on to the next generation. Previous work has demonstrated that centromeres are composed primarily of repeated DNA sequences. Not all of the repeats are required because large sections of a centromere can be removed without affecting chromosome segregation. Research carried out under this award is designed to identify which of the DNA sequences in the maize centromere are directly responsible for chromosome segregation. Towards this end, a sample of ~400,000 base pairs of centromeric DNA will be sequenced to determine the basic organization of the centromere. Each unique class of DNA sequence (either repetitive or single-copy) will be analyzed with respect to its distribution among the ten maize chromosomes and its interaction with a maize kinetochore protein. Based on these data, artificial centromeres will be created from selected portions of natural centromeres to test their activity in transgenic maize plants. In the final stages of the project, artificial centromeres will be used to create fully autonomous artificial chromosomes. Such artificial chromosomes could be used as vehicles for carrying agronomically important genes and could greatly improve existing methods for transferring genes into plants.

中心粒是长长的DNA，它与一组称为动物学蛋白的蛋白质一起，负责确保染色体准确地分离并传递到下一代。先前的工作表明，中心粒主要由重复的DNA序列组成。 并非所有重复都需要全部重复，因为可以在不影响染色体隔离的情况下去除中心粒的大部分。根据该奖项进行的研究旨在确定玉米中心粒中的哪些DNA序列直接负责染色体分离。 为此，将对左心室DNA的约400,000个碱基对样本进行测序，以确定丝粒的基本组织。每种独特的DNA序列（重复或单拷贝）将在十个玉米染色体之间的分布及其与玉米动物学蛋白的相互作用方面进行分析。基于这些数据，将从自然丝粒的选定部分创建人工centromeres，以测试其在转基因玉米植物中的活性。在该项目的最后阶段，人工centromeres将用于创建完全自主的人工染色体。这种人造染色体可以用作携带农艺上重要基因的车辆，并可以大大改善将基因转移到植物中的现有方法。