Evolution, development, and mechanisms of floral organ photosynthesis.

花器官光合作用的进化、发育和机制。

基本信息

批准号：
BB/T009462/1
负责人：
Diarmuid Seosamh O'Maoileidigh
金额：
$ 125.63万
依托单位：
University of Liverpool
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Fellowship
财政年份：
2020
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2020 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FT009462%2F1
关键词：
Evolution development mechanisms floral organ

项目摘要

Food security and climate change are two of the most important challenges facing modern society. Increased crop productivity is required to provide enough food for an ever-growing population, however, this should not come at a cost of increased carbon emissions. Novel plants variants that can use less land, capture more carbon, and produce higher yields are needed.Many research groups around the globe are working on improving photosynthesis to meet these challenges, which includes modifying enzymes and changing the anatomy of the leaf to capture more carbon. However, relatively few groups have focused on improving photosynthesis that occurs outside of the leaf, in stems, flowers and fruits. Many species heavily rely on non-leaf photosynthesis, however, there are many aspects of this process that we do not understand.This project aims to understand more about non-leaf photosynthesis: How has nature used it to improve plant health? How is it programmed on a genetic level? How can we manipulate it to benefit nature and society? We will focus our efforts initially on the mustard plant family because they contain 'model' plants as well as important crops, such as oilseed rape. Model plants are plants that are well-characterized (e.g. have a sequenced genome) and whose genome we can modify with ease. This is important because understanding how a complex process such as non-leaf photosynthesis functions requires the availability of tractable systems to test specific hypotheses. This power of this approach has been demonstrated recently with the development of plants with shatter-resistant fruits in oilseed rape, which reduces harvesting losses significantly. These plants were generated by directly using knowledge acquired from model plants. Here, we will employ a similar strategy. First, we will develop our understanding of non-leaf photosynthesis on genetic and physiological levels. Next, we will use this knowledge to make specific hypotheses on how to modify non-leaf photosynthesis to improve agriculturally important traits. We will test these hypotheses in both model and crop plants and develop improved varieties in a step-wise manner.Although we will initially investigate species in the mustard plant family, this work will also be relevant to species in other plant families including wheat, barley, and tomato, whose flowers and fruits also perform photosynthesis. Therefore, this project marks the beginning of a long-term goal to understand the evolution of non-leaf photosynthesis and to develop strategies to modify it in important crop plants.

粮食安全和气候变化是现代社会面临的两个最重要的挑战。需要提高作物生产力才能为不断增长的人口提供足够的食物，但这不应以增加碳排放为代价。需要能够使用更少土地、捕获更多碳并产生更高产量的新植物变种。全球许多研究小组正在致力于改善光合作用以应对这些挑战，其中包括修改酶和改变叶子的解剖结构以捕获更多碳碳。然而，相对较少的研究小组专注于改善发生在叶子之外、茎、花和果实中的光合作用。许多物种严重依赖非叶光合作用，然而，这个过程的许多方面我们并不了解。该项目旨在更多地了解非叶光合作用：大自然如何利用它来改善植物健康？它是如何在基因水平上编程的？我们如何利用它来造福自然和社会？我们将首先将工作重点放在芥菜植物科上，因为它们包含“模型”植物以及重要作物，例如油菜。模型植物是具有良好特征的植物（例如具有测序的基因组）并且我们可以轻松修改其基因组。这很重要，因为了解非叶光合作用等复杂过程如何发挥作用需要可用易处理的系统来测试特定的假设。最近，随着油菜果实抗碎植物的开发，这种方法的威力得到了证明，从而显着减少了收获损失。这些植物是直接使用从模型植物获得的知识生成的。在这里，我们将采用类似的策略。首先，我们将在遗传和生理水平上加深对非叶光合作用的理解。接下来，我们将利用这些知识对如何修改非叶光合作用以改善农业重要性状做出具体假设。我们将在模型植物和农作物中测试这些假设，并逐步开发改良品种。虽然我们最初将调查芥菜植物科的物种，但这项工作也将与包括小麦、大麦在内的其他植物科的物种相关和番茄，其花和果实也进行光合作用。因此，该项目标志着了解非叶光合作用进化并制定修改重要作物非叶光合作用策略的长期目标的开始。