Award details

Modified function of a stem cell regulator in monocots and dicots

Reference	BB/X000559/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Peter Etchells
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Professor Robert Baxter, Professor Wendy Harwood, Professor Lisa-Marie Shillito
Institution	Durham University
Department	Biosciences
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	571,154
Status	Current
Type	Research Grant
Start date	27/03/2023
End date	26/03/2026
Duration	36 months

Abstract

A key question in developmental biology is how mechanisms have been modified during evolution to give different morphologies. Across the plant kingdom, CLE ligands and their receptors are synonymous with regulation of cell division in meristematic zones. For example, in the vascular cambium of dicots TDIF ligand binds to PXY receptor to regulate cell division. Curiously, TDIF and PXY homologues are also present in monocots, but monocots do not have a cambium. What, therefore, is the function of TDIF-PXY signalling in monocots? This is the question that we aim to address in this proposal, using barley as a model system. Our preliminary data suggest that TDIF-PXY regulates cell division in the intercalary meristem, because PXY has been shown to be expressed in growing barley stems in RNA-seq data, and because barley pxy mutants we generated had stems with fewer, longer cells. To test our hypothesis, we will determine TDIF and PXY expression patterns using mRNA in situ hybridization and reporter analysis. We will also remove redundancy from the system by using genome editing to delete TDIF- and PXY-related genes in barley. To support this analysis, we will characterise the phenotypes of the mutant barley using X-ray computer tomography. This will enable state-of-the-art visualisation of internal morphological characteristics at cell and tissue specificity. Finally, our preliminary data also suggests that barley pxy mutants are susceptible to limited watering regimes. Thus we propose to better understand the physiological consequences of the phenotypic changes associated with the developmental changes in these mutants, measuring photosynthesis, transpiration, and stomatal conductance. Water-use-efficiency is a critically important agronomic trait. The work within this proposal may point to future methods for optimising stem architecture in barley and other crops to enable robust growth in conditions of differing water availability.

Summary

The majority of our food crops come from flowering plants, which are referred to as angiosperms. Angiosperms are further divided into the dicots, which include many woody species, and the monocots, which include important cereal crops such as wheat and barley. One of the major differences between the monocot and dicot clades is the organisation of the stem. In dicots, the stem is characterised by a group of undifferentiated cells that are referred to as the cambium, which is responsible for most radial growth. The cambium is present in a ring around the stem and cells that divide within the cambium ultimately form the woody plant tissue at the centre of the stem (xylem), or a second transport tissue, the phloem, towards the outer part of the stem. Cell division in the cambium is controlled by a signalling mechanism referred to as TDIF-PXY. TDIF is a small ligand protein, and PXY a receptor protein that is localised to the plasma membrane of cambium cells. When TDIF binds to PXY, a signal is passed to the nucleus which promotes cell division. Monocots do not have a cambium. However, TDIF and PXY are still both encoded for within monocot genomes. This raises the question of what the function of TDIF and PXY is in monocots. To address this question, we deleted the PXY gene from barley. We found no changes to xylem or phloem formation, nor to radial growth, but we did observe fewer larger cells in barley mutant stems. Thus we hypothesised that barley PXY acts to promote cell divisions in a dividing cell population referred to as the intercalary meristem. Intercalary meristems predominate on monocots. They are areas of cell division within the stem that contribute to growth by adding length. The purpose of this proposal is to test the hypothesis that TDIF-PXY regulates the intercalary meristem in monocots. We propose to test this hypothesis by determining cell type specific expression domains of TDIF and PXY genes in barley stems. We already know that TDIF and PXY areexpressed in stems, but we don't know in exactly which cell type. To perform this analysis we will use two methods. In the first, we will probe for mRNA derived from PXY and TDIF genes to visualise which cells it is present in. In the second, we will generate so-called reporter genes, where the DNA sequences that define where a gene is expressed (in this case, those for TDIF, PXY, and PXY-like genes) are placed upstream of a gene that can produce a coloured dye. We will further test our hypothesis by removing any TDIF-PXY redundancy from barley using genome editing. Redundancy is where several related genes can perform a similar function, such that mutating a single gene has only a minor effect on phenotype. We have already generated a pxy mutant but other closely related genes may contribute to PXY function. Removing those related genes may lead to clear changes to plant morphology which will help determine TDIF-PXY function in monocots. However, imaging changes to morphology in plant stems is challenging in barley. Thus to fully characterise cell- and tissue-specific changes we will use X-ray computer tomography. This method is a non-destructive technique for visualizing interior features within solid objects, and we propose to use a machine specifically developed for biological samples. This will allow us to fully characterise changes to morphology in the plant lines used in this proposal. Finally, we will determine the consequences of loss of TDIF-PXY on robust plant growth in challenging environmental conditions. Our preliminary data has suggested that TDIF-PXY is required to maintain robust growth under water limited conditions, so we will test the effectiveness of carbon assimilation in the plant lines generated on this proposal when limited amounts of water are available. Global heating is predicted to reduce water availability for crops. But understanding the relationships between plant development and physiology may provide indicators of how we can

Committee	Research Committee B (Plants, microbes, food & sustainability)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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