Collaborative Research: Mechanisms of differentiation and morphogenesis of the ligule/auricle hinge

合作研究：叶舌/耳廓铰链的分化和形态发生机制

• 批准号: 2120131
• 负责人: Andrew Nelson
• 金额: $ 31.14万
• 依托单位: Boyce Thompson Institute Plant Research
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-01 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2120131&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Mechanisms; differentiation; morphogenesis

A fundamental question in plant biology is how plant cells are patterned to develop the specific forms and functions that comprise plant organs. This collaborative project will investigate the cellular and developmental genetic mechanisms whereby leaf boundary cells acquire their specialized cell fates, an agronomically important process that contributes to light capture and crop yield. This project will train a graduate student and two postdoctoral scientists in state-of-the-art techniques in microscopy, gene expression and genome structure. Machine learning approaches will be used to analyze these complementary data. The project will also train undergraduate summer interns in these techniques and will sponsor yearly, hands-on, educational webinars and workshops on computational analyses of big biological data. In addition, the data generated during this project will seed team-learning projects in a new course developed as part of a separate NSF-funded graduate student training grant, which will also sponsor a free, online training course on machine learning for plant scientists. How cell-fate acquisition is genetically regulated is the fundamental question in plant organogenesis. A common feature of multicellular organisms is the formation of distinct boundaries between developmentally distinct tissues of an organ. The ligule/auricle comprises the developmental boundary within maize leaves, forming a specialized hinge-like structure between the proximal, supportive sheath tissue and the distal, photosynthetic blade. Ligule/auricle morphology shows natural variation and is a genetically tractable trait; the resultant difference in leaf blade angle are relevant to maize improvement. The cellular parameters of ligule/auricle outgrowth will be characterized during three distinct ontogenetic stages. Single-cell RNA-seq will identify cell-specific genetic networks during ligule/auricle outgrowth, and single-cell ATAC-seq will identify key transcription factors and cis-regulatory features during these same three stages. Machine learning strategies will synthesize and correlate these cell-biological, transcriptomic, and chromatin data, to identify genomic networks and candidate genes involved in ligule/auricle differentiation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

植物生物学的一个基本问题是如何对植物细胞进行图案形成以开发构成植物器官的特定形式和功能。该协作项目将研究细胞和发育遗传机制，叶子边界细胞获得其专门的细胞命运，这是一个重要的农艺学过程，有助于捕获光和作物的产量。该项目将在显微镜，基因表达和基因组结构方面的最新技术中培训研究生和两名博士后科学家。机器学习方法将用于分析这些互补数据。该项目还将培训这些技术的本科暑期实习生，并将每年赞助大量生物学数据的计算分析，每年，动手，教育网络研讨会和研讨会。 此外，该项目期间产生的数据将在新课程中播种团队学习项目，作为单独的NSF资助的研究生培训赠款的一部分，该课程还将赞助有关植物科学家的机器学习免费在线培训课程。遗传调节的细胞命运获取方式是植物器官发生的基本问题。 多细胞生物的一个共同特征是形成器官发育不同组织之间的不同边界。韧带/耳膜包括玉米叶内的发育边界，形成了近端，支撑性护套组织与远端光合叶片之间的专门铰链样结构。韧带/耳膜形态显示自然变异，并且是一种遗传障碍。叶片角度的最终差异与玉米改善有关。在三个不同的个体发育阶段，将表征韧带/耳膜出生的细胞参数。单细胞RNA-seq将在韧带/耳膜出现过程中识别细胞特异性遗传网络，而单细胞ATAC-SEQ将在这三个阶段中识别关键的转录因子和顺式调节特征。机器学习策略将综合并关联这些细胞生物学，转录组和染色质数据，以识别与脑络/耳差异分化有关的基因组网络和候选基因。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的智力优点和广泛影响的评估来评估CRETERIA的评估。