Cristin-prosjekt-ID: 557708
Sist endret: 4. oktober 2021, 11:22

Cristin-prosjekt-ID: 557708
Sist endret: 4. oktober 2021, 11:22
Prosjekt

Beyond the genome: epigenetics of defense priming and climatic adaptation in plants

prosjektleder

Paal Krokene
ved Norsk institutt for bioøkonomi

prosjekteier / koordinerende forskningsansvarlig enhet

  • Norsk institutt for bioøkonomi

Finansiering

  • TotalbudsjettNOK 25.000.000
  • Norges forskningsråd
    Prosjektkode: 249958
  • NIBIO - Norsk institutt for bioøkonomi
    Prosjektkode: 10188

Klassifisering

Vitenskapsdisipliner

Bioinformatikk • Økologi • Planteforedling, hagebruk, plantevern, plantepatologi • Plantefysiologi • Skogbruk • Molekylærbiologi

Emneord

Plantemolekylærbiologi • Gran • Arabidopsis • Insekt-plante interaksjoner • Epigenetikk • Plantehelse • Molekylær biovitenskap • Genuttrykk • Jordbær • Klimatilpasning • Plantebiokjemi • Plantefysiologi

Kategorier

Prosjektkategori

  • Anvendt forskning
  • Grunnforskning

Tidsramme

Avsluttet
Start: 1. juli 2016 Slutt: 31. desember 2021

Beskrivelse Beskrivelse

Tittel

Beyond the genome: epigenetics of defense priming and climatic adaptation in plants

Populærvitenskapelig sammendrag

In this project we want to understand memory mechanisms in plants by studying defense mechanisms and climatic adaptation in three very different plant species: Norway spruce (Picea abies), woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) and the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. All plants have a molecular memory that allows them to adapt to their surroundings faster than classical genetic adaptation and evolution would suggest. We want to understand the molecular memory mechanisms that regulate which genes are turned on and off, and how these changes are transferred to the next generation of cells or individuals.

This is basic research that also has clear applied significance. Climate change and biological aggressors are two key challenges that all plants are facing. Proper timing of for example growth initiation in the spring can be a matter of life and death, and is particularly important in times of rapid climate change. It is also vital for plants to have effective defenses against insects and diseases. This is especially true for long-lived plants such as spruce, since they are facing natural enemies with much shorter generation times and more rapid evolution. Our results may be important for plant breeding, not only of spruce and strawberries, but of other crops as well. 

The plants' molecular memory is related to what is called epigenetics - a sort of meeting place between inherited and environmental factors. Epigenetic mechanisms enable plants to adapt quickly to changes in the environment, and these modifications can be inherited to the next generation of cells or individuals without any alterations to the genetic code. Epigenetics is thus only changing how strongly different genes are expressed, and does not affect the underlying gene sequences. The fact that genes also encode for the flexibility to adapt to the environment during an individual's lifetime represents a paradigm shift in biology.

Vitenskapelig sammendrag

In this project we study epigenetic modifications involved in defenses priming against pests and pathogens and climatic adaptation in plants. These are novel research questions of great interest, both from a basic scientific perspective and from a climate change and crop protection perspective. Healthy, vigorous plants with flexible phenotypes that are well adapted to shifting environmental conditions provide better yield and more efficient carbon sequestration from the atmosphere, with less pesticide use. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of the epigenetic machinery will help inform how epigenetics may be exploited in plant breeding and crop management practices.

The two research themes in this project (defense priming and climatic adaptation) are closely integrated since they focus on the same plant species and are hypothesized to involve similar underlying molecular mechan­isms. Defense priming and environ­mentally induced climatic adaptation are both manifested by phenotypic and gene transcription changes that last weeks to years, but without any change to the genotype. Thus, we hypothesize that both phenom­ena are established and maintained by one or more components of the plants’ epigenetic machin­ery. The primary objective of this proposal is thus to determine changes in gene expression, non-coding RNAs, metabolites, and DNA and histone modifi­cations that contribute to defense priming and climatic adaptation in plants.

We study 3 complementary but very different plant species with different life histories:

1. The conifer Norway spruce (Picea abies) is one of the most economically important tree species in Europe and is a gymnosperm model species with a sequenced genome and defined genetic material at our disposal.

2. The woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) is also a model species for the species-rich and economic­ally important Rosaceae family, which includes apples, pears, plums, almonds, raspberry, and the cultivated garden strawberry.

3. Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) is the general plant model and is the most amendable of all plants for functional studies and thus ideally suited to transfer knowledge to economically and ecologically important plants such as Norway spruce and strawberry.

 

prosjektdeltakere

prosjektleder

Paal Krokene

  • Tilknyttet:
    Prosjektleder
    ved Norsk institutt for bioøkonomi

Tage Thorstensen

  • Tilknyttet:
    Prosjektdeltaker
    ved Norsk institutt for bioøkonomi
Aktiv cristin-person

May Bente Brurberg

  • Tilknyttet:
    Prosjektdeltaker
    ved Norsk institutt for bioøkonomi
Aktiv cristin-person

Carl Gunnar Fossdal

  • Tilknyttet:
    Prosjektdeltaker
    ved Norsk institutt for bioøkonomi

Raghuram Badmi

  • Tilknyttet:
    Prosjektdeltaker
    ved Norsk institutt for bioøkonomi
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Resultater Resultater

Adaptive plasticity and memory in plants - an epigenetics approach.

Badmi, Raghuram; Elameen, Abdelhameed; Eikemo, Håvard; Brurberg, May Bente; Fossdal, Carl Gunnar; Krokene, Paal; Thorstensen, Tage. 2017, NorPlantBio 2017. NIBIO, NMBU, UIOVitenskapelig foredrag

Primed resistance in Norway spruce against a tree-killing bark beetle.

Krokene, Paal. 2017, Novel Approaches and Technologies for Understanding How Plants and Herbivores Interact at Multiple Scales. NIBIOPoster

The epigenetic memory of temperature during embryogenesis modifies the expression of genes in Norway spruce epitypes.

Fossdal, Carl Gunnar. 2017, Spe­cial Plant Sem­inar Au­gust 2017 Viikki Plant Sci­ence Centre. NIBIOVitenskapelig foredrag

The epigenetic memory of temperature during embryogenesis modifies the expression of bud burst-related genes in Norway spruce epitypes.

Carneros, Elena; Yakovlev, Igor; Viejo, Marcos; Olsen, Jorunn Elisabeth; Fossdal, Carl Gunnar. 2017, Planta. NIBIO, NMBU, UDADHVitenskapelig artikkel
1 - 5 av 25 | Neste | Siste »