research to establish an effective dietary strategy to reduce the growing burden of NAFLD that currently affects 80-100 million Americans.
Lead PI: Jonathan Fresnedo Team Members: Anna Dobritsa, Cheri Nemes, Katrina Cornish, Kyle Benzle Title: Development of a Haploidy-inducing System for Outcrossing Plant Species Through Gene-editing Lay Overview: Our team is developing a strategy to generate genetically homogenous crosspollinated plants. The implementation of our strategy, based on gene-editing and chromosome manipulation, will enable the production of plants with only one set of chromosomes, which are called haploids. The availability of haploids will then allow creation of genetically homogenous diploid plants for more efficient plant breeding and research into the genetics of many cross-pollinated crops, and also will accelerate the domestication of new crops. Lead PI: Patrice Hamel Team Members: Alexandra Dubini Title: Engineering Pathways for Biofuel Production in Microalgae Lay Overview: In the face of declining fossil fuel supplies and the world’s increasing demand for energy, there is an urgent need for alternative and economically viable energy sources. This project aims to engineer a freshwater microalga for the production of biohydrogen, a clean and renewable replacement fuel.
Lead PI: David Mackey Team Members: Mingzhe Shen, David Bisaro, Aaron Bruns Title: Defining Host and Virus Genetics Underlying the Contribution of Arabidopsis Ethylene Signaling to Resistance Against Geminivirus Infection Lay Overview: Geminiviruses, which are serious pathogens of critical staple crops (cassava, maize, beans), specialty crops (tomato, pepper), fiber crops (cotton), and potential biofuel crops (grasses) worldwide, are problematic due to a lack of resistant germplasm and the disappointing efficacy of
transgenic resistance approaches. Our long-term goal is to create knowledge that will inform strategies to develop resistant plants by breeding, transgenic or gene-editing approaches. We will test the overarching hypothesis that signaling dependent on the gaseous plant hormone, ethylene (Et), is a key component of host defense against geminiviruses. The work will test that a key geminivirus virulence factor perturbs Et-signaling and viral DNA methylation, a previously established activity, by targeting a single, central metabolic pathway in infected plant cells. Lead PI: Peter Piermarini Team Members: Liva Rakotondraibe Title: Discovery of Natural Drimane Sesquiterpene Lactones from Madagascan Medicinal Plants (Cinnamosma sp.) for Mosquito Vector Control Lay Overview: Plants produce a diverse array of secondary metabolites that deter a wide range of herbivores, including insects. Thus, they are a potential valuable source of novel insecticides and repellents for mosquito control. Our project aims to discover natural products from endemic Madagascan medicinal plants (Cinnamosma species) that kill and/or repel mosquitoes to facilitate the development of next-generation mosquito control products for limiting the spread of emerging mosquito-borne diseases, such as Zika virus.
Lead PI: Keith Slotkin Team Members: Andrew Michel, Julie Reynolds, Ashley Yates Title: Identifying the Epigenetic Mechanism of Soybean Aphid Virulence Lay Overview: The soybean aphid is the most important insect pest and is resistant to insecticides. This necessitates research into a more sustainable aphid management approach. Soybeans that are naturally resistant to the soybean aphid are available, but the ability of certain aphids to overcome this plant resistance prevents wide-scale use. Andy Michel’s laboratory has generated multiple independent discoveries demonstrating that there is an epigenetic and chromatin-level component to the aphid’s virulence. Keith Slotkin’s laboratory has specific expertise in unraveling the mechanisms of epigenetic phenomena, and the two laboratories are now utilizing their individual strengths to investigate the epigenetic regulation of aphid virulence. Our goal is to innovatively combine the field of epigenetics and plant-insect interactions to determine which gene(s) are responsible for soybean aphid virulence.
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