NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Plant plasticity in response to climatic variability and drought stress

美国国家科学基金会生物学博士后奖学金：植物应对气候变化和干旱胁迫的可塑性

• 批准号: 2305993
• 负责人: Haley Branch
• 金额: $ 24万
• 依托单位: Branch, Haley A
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2305993&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; Plant

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2023, Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology. The Fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. This research seeks to understand the biological mechanisms behind drought tolerance in plants and will advance knowledge about the ability of plant populations to adapt to drought. This is important because as the climate warms, drought becomes more common. The Fellow will examine plant responses by assessing changes in whole plants, both structures above the ground and in the roots, that can prevent dehydration. Little is currently known about these responses, which makes this vital research for understanding plant vulnerability to future climates. In addition to the scientific research, the Fellow will assess the accessibility of long-term ecological research stations in the United States to create a database of sites where accessible fieldwork can be performed. This will assist disabled researchers to determine where they can participate in fieldwork. The Fellow will also educate station leaders around disability issues and provide potential avenues for improvements. Populations with large geographical ranges generally occupy diverse environments, making them excellent candidates for studying adaptive differences to climatic variability. Mimulus guttatus, yellow monkeyflower, is a model organism for examining plant adaptation and this species will be used to assess genetic and phenotypic differences that confer drought tolerance or vulnerability across populations. Seeds of Mimulus guttatus from range-wide populations will be grown in a common greenhouse environment and exposed to wet or dry treatments. The timing of life history and photosynthetic performance of plants will be broadly characterized, and the exposure of different treatments will allow for the assessment of plasticity of these traits. A subset of plants will be grown in agar to assess root-level adaptation to drought stress, examining architecture and cellular structure. Root and leaf tissues will be collected throughout developmental stages and analyzed for differences in genetic expression using RNA-seq to help explain drought response modulation. Populations that are found in more stable mesic areas will likely be less drought-adapted than populations from drier or more variable climates. The Fellow will be trained in a collaborative environment from experts in plant physiology, evolutionary genetics, and phylogenomics. The Fellow will also advise undergraduate students on independent research related to this project.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.

该行动资助 2023 财年 NSF 生物学博士后研究奖学金，扩大生物学领域代表性不足的群体的参与。该奖学金支持该研究员的研究和培训计划，该计划将增加生物学领域代表性不足的群体的参与。这项研究旨在了解植物耐旱性背后的生物学机制，并将增进有关植物种群适应干旱能力的知识。这很重要，因为随着气候变暖，干旱变得更加普遍。该研究员将通过评估整个植物（包括地上结构和根部结构）的变化来检查植物的反应，这些变化可以防止脱水。目前人们对这些反应知之甚少，这使得这项研究对于了解植物对未来气候的脆弱性至关重要。除了科学研究之外，该研究员还将评估美国长期生态研究站的可达性，以创建可以进行实地考察的站点数据库。这将帮助残疾研究人员确定他们可以在哪里参与实地工作。该研究员还将就残疾问题对车站领导进行教育，并提供潜在的改进途径。地理范围较大的人群通常占据不同的环境，这使它们成为研究气候变化适应性差异的绝佳候选者。 Mimulus guttatus（黄色猴花）是一种用于检查植物适应性的模式生物，该物种将用于评估赋予不同种群耐旱性或脆弱性的遗传和表型差异。来自不同种群的酸浆草种子将在普通温室环境中生长，并接受湿法或干法处理。植物的生命史和光合作用性能的时间将被广泛表征，并且不同处理的暴露将允许评估这些性状的可塑性。一部分植物将在琼脂中生长，以评估根部对干旱胁迫的适应，检查结构和细胞结构。将在整个发育阶段收集根和叶组织，并使用 RNA-seq 分析基因表达的差异，以帮助解释干旱反应调节。生活在较稳定的中湿地区的种群可能比来自干燥或多变气候的种群对干旱的适应能力较差。该研究员将在植物生理学、进化遗传学和系统发育学专家的协作环境中接受培训。该研究员还将就与该项目相关的独立研究向本科生提供建议。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。