Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS
410 MRAK HALL
DAVIS,CA 95616-8671
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Acylsugar-mediated plant defenses are well documented across Solanaceae, an economically important family with many crop plants. In fact, the top two most-consumed vegetable plant produce in the U.S - tomatoes and potatoes - belong to the Solanaceae family. Deploying endogenous acylsugars as natural pesticides provides great opportunities to make solanaceous crop agriculture sustainable. However, cultivated tomatoes and potatoes do not produce the same quantity and quality (i.e., types) of acylsugars as their wild relatives. Decades of breeding efforts encountered the obstacle that multiple loci contribute to a desired acylsugar trait in a complex manner. To efficiently bring back these natural defense traits with molecular breeding and engineering, a thorough understanding of acylsugar biosynthetic pathways is critical. Next, little is known about which acylsugar structure has the strongest potency toward current agricultural pests, and what structural modification could prepare crop plants to defend against invading future pests. As acylsugars can attribute up to 20% of dry leaf weight in tomato wild relatives, it is further crucial to identify the most potent or cost-efficient acylsugar configuration to mitigate any detrimental effect on crop yield. This project will elucidate the biosynthesis and ecological importance of anti-herbivory acylhexoses in Solanaceae by combining plant biochemistry, analytical chemistry, plant transformation to plant-insect interaction. The collective knowledge obtained through this research will provide a fundamental understanding about molecular mechanisms that contribute to acylsugar sugar core diversity as well as evolution-guided target metabolites and genes for breeding native and effective pesticides.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
100%
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Solanaceae family plants synthesize herbivory defensive acylated sugars in the tip cells of glandular trichomes. Numerous research correlated acylsugar structural differences to their anti-herbivory potency. However, direct evidence regarding which acylsugar(s) have the optimal characteristics for breeding endogenous defenses in solanaceous crops against current and future pests remains to be elucidated. Throughout evolution, acylhexoses appear to independently evolve more than once in Solanaceae. This proposed project seeks to elucidate the biosynthesis and ecological importance of anti-herbivory acylhexoses in Solanaceae by focusing on the following specific objectives:1) Biochemically characterize acylglucose biosynthesis in Nicotiana and Datura genus species;2) Determine acylinositol biosynthesis in Solanum nigrum; and,3) Develop tools to critically assess acylsugar sugar core contribution to their anti-herbivory effects.Results generated from this work will impact our fundamental understanding of structural impact of acylsugars, providing both target metabolites and breeding strategies to improve crop plant resilience to pests without the use of pesticides.
Project Methods
This question-guided, hypothesis-based project will combine research activities ranging from plant biochemistry, analytical chemistry, plant transformation to plant-insect interaction. The methods involved include heterologous protein expression and purification, in vitro enzyme assays, genetics, bioinformatics, Liquid Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry- and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance-based analysis on small molecules, no-choice herbivore performance assays, virus-induced gene silencing and CRISPR-knockout in stable transformation lines. The interdisciplinary research will provide a unique training environment for the graduate student, the postdoctoral researcher and the undergraduate students working on this project.Efforts:Research activities will be conducted in the laboratory;Quality of data obtained will be evaluated by consistency between technical and biological replicates;Processed data will be statistically analyzed with statistic softwares (e.g., R);Data interpretation will be openly discussed in the research group with plenty of consideration of alternative hypotheses;Data interpretation will be cross validated with the many research activities proposed, whenever possible;Research outcomes will be presented and communicated with the scientific community in a timely manner to obtain real-time feedback;Training and career development will be provided to the postdoctoral researcher, closely aligning with their career interest;Training will be provided in a graduate school mentor-mentee format to a graduate student;Learning opportunities for undergraduate interns will be provided with varying goals suitable for students in different stages.Evaluation:Research outcome will be evaluated by the number and quality of publications in peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journals;Research outcome will also be evaluated by the number and quality of national conference presentations;Training outcome will be evaluated by the annual report progress and committee member inputs on the postdoctoral researcher and graduate student's performances;Training outcome for undergraduate research interns will be evaluated by their honor thesis and their presentation experiences in undergraduate research fair(s).