| NSF Org: |
IOS Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | June 10, 2014 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | June 10, 2014 |
| Award Number: | 1340001 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
R. Kelly Dawe
IOS Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems BIO Directorate for Biological Sciences |
| Start Date: | June 1, 2014 |
| End Date: | May 31, 2019 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $2,499,979.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $2,499,979.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1400 TOWNSEND DR HOUGHTON MI US 49931-1200 (906)487-1885 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
1400 Townsend Drive Houghton MI US 49931-1295 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Plant Genome Research Resource |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.074 |
ABSTRACT
PI: Guiliang Tang (Michigan Technological University, Houghton)
CoPIs: Xuemei Chen and Wenbo Ma (University of California, Riverside), Harold N. Trick (Kansas State University), and Hairong Wei (Michigan Technological University, Houghton)
Key Collaborator: Kan Wang (Iowa State University)
Small RNAs, including microRNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), play central roles in growth and development, epigenetics, genome integrity, defense against pathogen infection, and responses to environmental changes in plants. miRNAs are especially important in controlling plant development, productivity, and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses by negatively regulating gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Hundreds to thousands of miRNAs have been identified from dozens of plant species. However, their roles in plant development and response against various pathogens and other stresses are largely unknown. This project will integrate the most recent cutting-edge genomics technology into the study of miRNAs in crop plants. Students at all levels of education will be engaged in a variety of activities including teaching, training, learning workshops, and technology-extension. The project will provide research training in small tandem target mimic (STTM) technology, rice transformation, and functional studies of miRNAs for postdoctoral associates, graduate and undergraduate students. Underrepresented minorities and women, as well as students from the Upper Peninsula region of Great Lakes, will be targeted and recruited. The project will also organize and hold a training workshop in STTM construction. The knowledge provided by this project will be disseminated to the public at large through informal talks at appropriate community venues.
This work will address key mechanistic hypotheses regarding miRNA evolution by answering important questions: Why do plants need so many miRNAs? Are they essential? What are their functional conservation and diversification in different plant lineages? This project will develop miRNA "knockdown" populations in selected agriculturally important crops as a pilot project using the recently developed STTM technology. These mutant populations will be further used to investigate the functional conservation and diversification of six highly conserved families of plant miRNAs, and to study the regulatory role of miRNAs in plant-microbe interactions. The project will provide a resource database, application and service for web-based materials transfer and distribution. All sequence data will be deposited at Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). STTM constructs, STTM seeds of rice, maize, Arabidopsis and soybean for use in basic biology in plant science and crop improvement will be available upon request.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This project was based on the PI's invention of short tandem target mimic (STTM) technology to address the functions of plant microRNAs, a large population of small regulatory RNAs existing in humans and plants. These small RNAs are so important to play roles in growth and development that STTM plays a key role in dissecting their functions. Over the project, we have published over 20 papers in applying STTM in various plant species including model plants and major crops. Hundreds of STTM constructs targeting hundrends of individual microRNAs for functions have been established, stored, and shared with the public via www.addgene.com. Nevertheless, our invention was not protected as intellectual property due to insufficient fund to submit it for patents. Furthermore, this projects was not extended for further research due to lack of funds from federal agencies. Other than these, this project was fully completed with abundant outcomes in terms of publications, resources, knowledge spreading, impact on both plant and animal sciences. Papers from this project have been highly cited and requested for materials and methods. I am confident about the completeness of this project and will have a long-term impact on the microRNA researches conducted now and in the future.
Last Modified: 11/25/2019
Modified by: Guiliang Tang
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