Collaborative Research: How to manipulate a plant? Testing for conserved effectors and plant responses in gall induction and growth using a multi-species comparative approach.

合作研究：如何操纵植物？

• 批准号: 2305880
• 负责人: Ellen Martinson
• 金额: $ 28.12万
• 依托单位: University of New Mexico
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-15 至 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2305880&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; How; manipulate; plant; Collaborative; Research; How; manipulate; plant

A gall is a tumor-like growth on a plant that is induced by another organism (i.e., bacteria, fungi, nematode, or insects). Insect-induced plant galls represent one of the most amazing and complex interspecific interactions in nature, capturing the interest of naturalists, ecologists and evolutionary biologists for centuries. Increasingly, gall-forming insects also act as economically important agricultural pests, reducing crop yields worldwide. Surprisingly, the general mechanisms behind insect gall induction and growth are unknown. This proposal aims to uncover the evolutionarily conserved molecular mechanisms of gall formation by harnessing the galling system of cynipid wasps on live oaks, in which many species of cynipids successfully gall the same plant. This system allows for powerful natural experiments to test the generality of how galling organisms manipulate plant genomes and to generate new hypotheses for investigating plant control strategies against galling herbivores and other pests that manipulate host plant defense and immunity. Additionally, galling research has great potential for the advancement of genetic engineering because gall-formation involves the simultaneous manipulation of thousands of genes in the plant – not possible with current technologies (e.g., RNAi, CRISPR). During the course of this research the PIs will co-host a seminar series and develop a series of labs with collaborators at Texas Southern University, a historically black college (HBCU); recruit summer undergraduate researchers at University of New Mexico, a federally recognized minority-serving institution; as well as actively participate in public engagement of scientific research in multiple institutions in Houston and Albuquerque.Previous molecular studies on insect-induced plant galls have focused on one species at a time, which has created a patchwork of phylogenetically divergent hosts and galling insects that has made it challenging to identify common underlying mechanisms behind galling. The study system we have developed represents a solution to this problem; wherein seven distinct evolutionary lineages of wasp all form phenotypically unique galls on the same host plant species. This system gives us the power to reduce the noise from different gall phenotypes (e.g., color, hairs, size, starting tissue) to determine the core molecular mechanisms of this interaction. In Aim 1, we will identify potential effector molecules in seven species of cynipid wasps. Through transcriptomes and proteomes, the wasp genes needed to induce gall induction will be identified in the venom gland (responsible for gall induction) and larval salivary glands (responsible for gall growth). In Aim 2, we will determine the core plant response to cynipid gallers. By comparing the gene expression of the multiple gall morphologies to their matched control ungalled tissues throughout development, we can separate out phenotypic variation across galls to identify alterations in core genes and pathways required to initiate and maintain gall growth. In Aim 3, our results in oak will be assessed for conservation in other galling systems by conducting a large meta-analysis with 20+ previous published gall transcriptomes including several agricultural pests on soybean, wheat, rice, grape, and blueberry. This will ensure that our results will inform the entire galling research community.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.

胆囊是植物上的一种肿瘤样生长，由另一种生物（即细菌，真菌，线虫或昆虫）诱导。昆虫诱导的植物泡是自然界中最令人惊奇，最复杂的种间相互作用之一，它捕捉了自然主义者，生态学家和进化生物学家的兴趣数百年。胆小的昆虫越来越多地充当经济上重要的农业害虫，从而在全球范围内降低了农作物的产量。令人惊讶的是，昆虫诱导和生长背后的一般机制尚不清楚。该提案旨在通过利用cynipid Wasps在活橡木上的胆汁系统来揭示胆汁形成的进化保守的分子机制，其中许多种类的cynipids成功地铜植物罐装了同一植物。该系统允许强大的自然实验测试累积生物如何操纵植物基因组的通用性，并产生新的假设，以调查植物控制策略，以防止食草动物和其他操纵宿主植物防御和免疫力的虫害。此外，彻底的研究具有巨大的基因工程发展潜力，因为胆囊形成涉及对植物中数千个基因的简单操纵 - 目前的技术不可能（例如RNAi，CRISPR）。在这项研究的过程中，PI将与德克萨斯州南部大学（HBCU）的德克萨斯州南部大学的合作者共同主持一个开创性的系列，并与合作者开发一系列实验室；在新墨西哥大学招募夏季本科研究人员，这是一家联邦认可的少数派服务机构；除了积极参与休斯敦和阿尔伯克基多个机构的科学研究的公众参与。对昆虫引起的植物胆的预知分子研究一次集中在一种物种上，这已经引起了多样化的多样化宿主的拼凑而成的昆虫，这使得挑战了基本的基础机制，这是挑战的。我们开发的研究系统代表了解决这个问题的解决方案。其中七个不同的黄蜂的七个不同的进化谱系在同一宿主植物物种上均形成了表面独特的胆汁。该系统赋予了我们减少来自不同胆汁表型（例如颜色，头发，大小，起始组织）的噪声的能力，以确定这种相互作用的核心分子机制。在AIM 1中，我们将确定七种cynipid Wasps中的潜在效应分子。通过转录组和蛋白质组，将在毒液腺（负责胆诱导）和幼虫唾液腺（负责胆汁生长）中鉴定出诱导胆囊诱导所需的黄蜂基因。在AIM 2中，我们将确定核心植物对Cynipid画廊的反应。通过比较多种胆流形态的基因表达与它们在整个发育过程中匹配的无all构成时间表的基因表达，我们可以将跨胆汁之间的表型变异分开，以鉴定核心基因的变化以及启动和维持胆汁生长所需的途径。在AIM 3中，我们的橡木效果将通过进行大规模荟萃分析，并在其他20多个先前发表的胆囊转录组中进行大规模荟萃分析来评估我们的饮料系统，包括大豆，小麦，大米，大米，葡萄和蓝莓的几种农业害虫。这将确保我们的结果将为整个累积研究社区提供信息。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评论标准来评估诚实地表示支持。