Hydropatterning

水图案化

• 批准号: BB/M001806/1
• 负责人: Malcolm Bennett
• 金额: $ 68.63万
• 依托单位: University of Nottingham
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2015 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FM001806%2F1
• 关键词: Hydropatterning

Food security represents a major global issue. Significant improvements in crop yields are urgently required to meet the 50% increase in world population by 2050. The degree of root branching determines the efficiency of water uptake and acquisition of nutrients in crops. Understanding the regulation of lateral root (LR) development is therefore of vital agronomic importance. We have recently observed using a new form of X-ray imaging that root branching is profoundly influenced by the distribution of water in soil. Lateral roots (LR) form on the side of the main root in contact with water, but rarely on the dry side, using a mechanism termed 'hydropatterning' that is highly conserved in all plant species studied to date. This project will investigate how hydropatterning actually works to cause new branches to form on the wet, but not dry, side of a root. To help our studies, we have already identified several genes and processes that are important for this process. This includes a special protein called ARF7 that regulates where root branches are formed. We will test whether the ARF7 protein on the dry side of a root is modified by another protein called SUMO, causing ARF7 to become inactivated. We will perform a series of experiments to test this idea at the start of the project. Next, we will find out where and how ARF7 and SUMO regulate lateral root hydropatterning. Finally, we will explore whether this is a highly conserved mechanism that all plants have inherited from the very first land plants that colonised dry land. The knowledge gained from this study will provide information about the key genes and processes controlling root branching, helping scientists design strategies to manipulate root branching and enhance crop yield.

粮食安全是一个重大的全球问题。为了满足到2050年世界人口增加50%的需求，迫切需要大幅度提高作物产量。根部分枝程度决定了作物吸水和获取养分的效率。因此，了解侧根（LR）发育的调节具有至关重要的农艺重要性。我们最近使用一种新形式的 X 射线成像观察到根分枝受到土壤中水分分布的深刻影响。侧根（LR）在主根与水接触的一侧形成，但很少在干燥的一侧形成，使用一种称为“水图案化”的机制，该机制在迄今为止研究的所有植物物种中都高度保守。该项目将研究水图案化实际上是如何起作用的，从而导致在根的潮湿而不是干燥的一侧形成新的分支。为了帮助我们的研究，我们已经确定了对此过程很重要的几个基因和过程。其中包括一种称为 ARF7 的特殊蛋白质，它可以调节根枝的形成位置。我们将测试根干侧的 ARF7 蛋白是否被另一种称为 SUMO 的蛋白修饰，导致 ARF7 失活。我们将在项目开始时进行一系列实验来测试这个想法。接下来，我们将了解 ARF7 和 SUMO 在何处以及如何调节侧根水模式。最后，我们将探讨这是否是一种高度保守的机制，所有植物都从最早定居于旱地的陆地植物那里遗传而来。从这项研究中获得的知识将提供有关控制根分枝的关键基因和过程的信息，帮助科学家设计控制根分枝和提高作物产量的策略。

项目成果

Seeing the wood and the trees

• DOI: 10.1038/nature14085
• 发表时间: 2014-12
• 期刊: Nature
• 影响因子: 64.8
• 作者: A. Bishopp;M. J. Bennett

Uncovering the hidden half of plants using new advances in root phenotyping.

• DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2018.06.002
• 发表时间: 2019-03
• 期刊: Current opinion in biotechnology
• 影响因子: 7.7
• 作者: Atkinson JA;Pound MP;Bennett MJ;Wells DM
• 通讯作者: Wells DM

Ears, shoots and leaves.

耳朵、枝条和叶子。

• DOI: 10.1038/s41477-017-0010-z
• 发表时间: 2017
• 期刊: Nature plants
• 影响因子: 18
• 作者: Atkinson J