Progress 02/01/15 to 01/31/18
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience reached by this project includes faculty, students and postdocs that were part of a number of national and international seminars and presentations that the PI has given. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Besides the completion of a PhD already described in the previous year report, the project has provided an outstanding opportunity to Dr. Nan Jiang to develop his skills in maize genetics and biochemistry. In addition, two graduates visiting fellows were trained and became familiar with maize field work and the characterization of sevarl flavonoids by HPLC and LC-MS/MS. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been disseminated through publications, posters and oral presentations at coneferences (e.g., the Maize Genetics Coference in March 2017), as well as by the PI in a number of lectures that he was invited to give. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The outcomes and impact of ths project include the characterization of a new biosynthesis pathway and its potential utilization for engineering herbivore resistance. Specifically for the golas proposed, Aims 1 & 2 were completed in previous years, and as part of Aim 3, we have generated maize stocks that carry combinations of mutants for the 3-deoxyflavonoi and C-glysocylflavone pathway (e.g., sm1 or sm2 with a1). Those double mutants are currently being characterized from the perspective of maysin, phlbaphene and 3-deoxyflavonoid accumulation in pericarp and silk tissues.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Francis, D., et al. (2017). "Challenges and opportunities for improving food quality and nutrition through plant biotechnology." Current Opinion in Biotechnology 44: 124-129.
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Progress 02/01/16 to 01/31/17
Outputs
Target Audience:Efforts as part of this project include lectures, workshops and classes given by PI Grotewold. The Grotewold lab also hosts visiting scholars from several countries which were exposed to various aspect of the project. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?So far one PhD student (Maria Isabel Casas) completed her PhD thesis and was recruited by a plant biotech company to become the director of the molecular biology lab. Several undergraduate students benefitted directly from the project. The project is currently being continued by a postdoctoral fellow (Nan Jiang) who has already made significant progress towards the last aim of the project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results have been disseminated through publications, and posters and presentations at national and international congresses. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue with the characterization of the mechanisms by whichC-glycosyl flavones and 3-deoxyanthocyanidin competes in silks. We have already identified some candidate genes; testing their identity will be more complicated because of the absence of mutants.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The outcomes and impact of this project can be evaluated at different levels. From the perspective of increasing the productivity of maize, our findings provide a path towards increasing the accumulation of insecticidal flavones in silks and other tissues. From the perspective of the mechanisms by which plants control and accumulate specialized compounds, our findings provide new insights into how metabolic pathways are organized, and the diversity of biological activities that enzymes can have. Specifically on the goals proposed, we completed Aim 1 by identifyingUGT708A6 as a UDP-dependent C-glycosyltransferase, and completed Aim2 by identifying the geneunderlying sm2 as a rhamnosyl transferase (UGT91L1) that uses isoorientin and UDP-rhamnose as substrates and converts them to rhamnosylisoorientin, and sm1 as a multidomain UDP-rhamnose synthase (RHS1) that converts UDP-glucose into UDP-Lrhamnose.RHS1 shows unexpected substrate plasticity in converting the glucose moiety in rhamnosylisoorientin to 4-keto-6-deoxy glucose, resulting in maysin.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Casas, M.I., Falcone-Ferreyra, M.L., Jiang, N., Mej�a-Guerra, K.M., Rodriguez, E.J., Wilson, T., Casati, P., and Grotewold, E. (2016) Identification and characterization of maize salmon silks genes involved in insecticidal maysin biosynthesis. Plant Cell, 28: 1297-1309. [Includes the cover of the issue]
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Jiang, N., Doseff, A.I. and Grotewold, E. (2016) Flavones: From biosynthesis to health benefits. Plants 5: E27.
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Progress 02/01/15 to 01/31/16
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience so far reached by this project corresponded to faculty, students and postdocs that were present at a number of national and international?seminars and presentations that the PI gave over the past year. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project permitted the completion of the PhD by Maria Isabel Casas in August 2015, who has since moved to a biotech company where she is applying many of the analytic tools learnt. Since September 2015, the project is also supporting Dr. Nan Jiang, a postdoc. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?By presentations as part of invited seminars by the PI, and posters by former PhD student, Maria Isabel Casas. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?As originally proposed, we will begin with the characterization of brown pericarp phenotypes and to better understand therelationship between theabsence of maysin and salmon silks.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We have completed Aim 2, by demonstrating thatSM2 encodes a rhamnosyltransferase (UGT91L1) that uses luteolin 6-C-glucoside (isoorientin) as substrate and converts it to rhamnosylisoorientin. SM1 encodes an UDP-rhamnose synthase (RHM1), that converts the glucose moiety in rhamnosylisoorientin to 4-keto-6-deoxy glucose, resulting in maysin formation. The manuscript describing these findings is currently in preparation.
Publications
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