H2020Индивидуална стипендия2017–2022

EvoNIN · Unraveling key genetic innovations behind the emergence of the root-nodule symbiosis

„Хоризонт 2020“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“

Период: 2017-09-01 → 2022-03-30
Финансиране от ЕС: 159 461 €
Участници: 1
Схема: MSCA-IF

Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.

Накратко на български

Генетичните механизми, чрез които бобовите растения си сътрудничат с бактерии за усвояване на азот от въздуха, се анализират за прехвърляне към царевица и пшеница. Това помага за създаване на култури, които зависят по-малко от изкуствените торове и вредните емисии при производството им.

Този кратък обзор е генериран от изкуствен интелект

Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.

Резултати накратко

Unraveling key genetic innovations behind the emergence of the root-nodule symbiosis

Massive use of human-made nitrogen fertiliser causes profound changes to the global nitrogen cycle, which are only comparable to the human impact on the global carbon cycle. Additionally, the primary raw material for nitrogen fertilizer is a non-renewable fossil fuel - natural gas. Over 5% of natural gas consumed in the US annualy is used solely for nitrogen fertilizer production. This industrial process also produces significant amounts of CO2 (about 3-5% of global carbon emissions), therefore having a vast impact on climate change. However, despite the negative environmental impact, mankind cannot stop using the fertiliser, because 48% of the world’s population can only be sustained through the application of the nitrogen fertilizer. The aim of the proposed research was to contribute to the development of improved crops, which can use atmospheric nitrogen as a direct source of nitrogen and do not rely on fertilisers. Atmospheric nitrogen (N2) is the largest reservoir of nitrogen on Earth, but it is inaccessible to most of the land plants, forcing farmers to use human-made fertiliser. However, a few plant species (including legumes) evolved an ability to form symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and use atmospheric nitrogen as the primary source of nitrogen. The idea of transferring the ability to form symbiosis from legumes to other economically important plants, such as corn or wheat, has first appeared about 50 years ago, but remained to be an unfeasible goal due to a insufficient genetics/genomics technology development in the past. In order to transfer this symbiosis to other important crops and enable them to fixate atmospheric nitrogen, we need to understand: how did this ability to form symbiosis evolve in the first place and what were the key genetic innovations behind it? The availability of multiple plant genomes sequenced recently (also in the host lab) allowed us to compare the genomic sequences of the plants capable of nitrogen-fixing symbiosis and those, which do not fixate nitrogen, and find the differences of the gene regulation in different species. Conclusions: Here we discovered – within the promoter of the Nodule Inception (NIN) gene – a cis-regulatory element (PACE), exclusively present in plants, capable of nitrogen-fixing symbiosis (also root-nodule symbiosis or RNS). Our data pinpoint the emergence of PACE as a key evolutionary invention which enabled bacterial uptake into infection threads, a unique and unifying feature of this symbiosis, and thus laid the foundation for the evolution of present day RNS.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз

Цел на проекта

Today's world relies on usage of man-made inorganic nitrogen fertilizer. It is estimated, that 48% of the world's population could only be sustained through application of the nitrogen fertilizer. However, use of nitrogen fertilizer has profound multiple negative effects onto environment and human health. Therefore, development of the improved crops, which can use atmospheric nitrogen as a direct source of N and, therefore, do not rely on fertilizer has became the European and Global political priority. Atmospheric N2 is the largest reservoir of nitrogen on Earth, but it is unavailable to most of the land plants. However, a few plant species (mainly legumes) evolved an ability to form symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and use atmospheric nitrogen as the primary source of N. The idea of transferring so-called root-nodule symbiosis to non-symbiotic plants has first appeared in the 1970es, when close to nothing was known about the molecular pathways behind nodulation. A significant international research effort over the past decades has resulted in unraveling the key genes involved in root nodule symbiosis in a number of legume model plants. Surprisingly, most of the discovered symbiotic genes were also found in non-symbiotic plants, making it difficult to elucidate key evolutionary innovations responsible for emergence of symbiosis. However, a long-needed detailed comparative study between nitrogen-fixers and non-fixers was not possible until now. The availability of completely sequenced plant genomes of species with nodal positions within and outside the nitrogen-fixing clade gives me the unique opportunity to compare the key symbiotic regulatory network in symbiotic and related non-symbiotic plants and elucidate which genes, regulatory connections or cis-regulatory elements are missing from the non-symbiotic plants. This knowledge will be ultimately exploited for the experimental transfer of nodulation to important non-symbiotic crops.

Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).

Участници

LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN · PlaneggКоординаторГермания