| NSF Org: |
IOS Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems |
| Recipient: |
|
| Initial Amendment Date: | August 9, 2016 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 30, 2018 |
| Award Number: | 1547713 |
| Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Gerald Schoenknecht
IOS Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems BIO Directorate for Biological Sciences |
| Start Date: | August 15, 2016 |
| End Date: | July 31, 2021 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $1,371,211.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $1,371,211.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2018 = $669,282.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
|
| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1664 N VIRGINIA ST # 285 RENO NV US 89557-0001 (775)784-4040 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
|
| Primary Place of Performance: |
1664 N. Virginia St., MS 0330 Reno NV US 89557-0001 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
|
| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
|
| Parent UEI: |
|
| NSF Program(s): | Plant Genome Research Project |
| Primary Program Source: |
01001819DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
|
| Program Element Code(s): |
|
| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.074 |
ABSTRACT
Part 1: Non-technical abstract:
Potato is one of the top four staple crops in the world and the basis of a more than 4-billion-dollar industry in the U.S. Up to 33% of U.S. potato yield is lost due to post-harvest issues each year. The proper ?healing? or ?curing? of potatoes to fortify their protective skin with the natural polymer suberin is critical for the storage of potatoes. Potato tubers with non-cured bruise or wound areas are much more susceptible to disease development and water loss. The long-term storage of potatoes allows consumers to be supplied with fresh potatoes and potato products (chips, French fries, etc.) year round. By analyzing the regulation of the synthesis and deposition of suberin, this project will provide insight on the fundamental processes underlying the potato skin healing or curing process. This will enable the reduction of post-harvest yield losses and the development of tools and germplasm for breeding efforts aimed at improving tuber storability. Even a marginal reduction in post-harvest storage losses would significantly improve economic return for potato producers and distributors. The project includes as outreach the development of public resources for the scientific and academic (Grades 9-12) communities, and the training of students from underrepresented groups.
Part 2: Technical abstract:
Suberin is produced In higher plants during normal development and in response to stresses like wounding. Despite its nearly ubiquitous presence, the regulation of suberin deposition remains enigmatic, yet its better understanding has positive agricultural implications. For example, an improvement in the proper deposition of wound suberin, which is critical for long-term storage of potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), would result in a significant reduction in crop loss during storage. The overall objective of this research is to decipher the transcriptional networks that regulate suberin biosynthesis, to enable the development of potato lines with improved wounding and storability. The transcription factor AtMYB41, identified by PI Kosma, and additional factors acting on suberin biosynthesis will be used as a springboard to define the transcriptional networks that regulate suberin deposition, with an emphasis on wound suberization. In parallel, the molecular basis of potato wound suberin production will be investigated using comparative transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses of potato cultivars that differ in suberization and storability. The end goal is to manipulate loci underlying differential wound suberin production by combining transcriptomics and SNP genotyping for targeted breeding approaches aimed at improving tuber storability. The project includes public resources and outreach activities for students from underserved groups.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
Note:
When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external
site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a
charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from
this site.
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.
Each year, up to $1.2 billion worth of potato tubers are lost in storage. A major culprit in these losses is the inability of tubers to heal wound sites from damage incurred during harvest and transportation. Suberin is a polymer of lipids that is a major constituent of the tissues formed during tuber wound healing. The goal of this project was to understand the complex genetic networks underlying the synthesis of suberin during wound healing to aid efforts aimed at improving storage life and reducing post-harvest tuber losses.
Four trajectories were utilized to comprehend the regulated deposition of wound suberin and generate information and resources for improving potato tuber storage life:
1. To identify master genetic regulators (transcription factors) of wound suberin. To this end, we identified a total of 8 transcription factors that appear to play critical roles in regulating wound suberin deposition during wound healing. We have employed CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technologies to manipulate these genes in potato to better understand their function and potential for improving tuber wound healing.
2. To comprehend why some potato cultivars heal their wounds and store better than other cultivars. We were able to demonstrate that wound suberin is positively correlated with tuber storage life. We employed targeted metabolomics and Next Generation Sequencing (RNA-sequencing), to provide a dynamic picture of the deposition of suberin and expression of thousands of genes during the wound healing process of two commercial potato cultivars widely used in the potato chip industry. Last, we employed Next Generation Sequencing to generate draft genome sequences of 4 commercial cultivars of chipping potatoes that differ in storage life and wound healing capacity.
3. To further identify and manipulate loci underlying the differential wounding capacity and storage life of distinct commercial cultivars of potato. We employed a method called Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS) to identify genes underlying the wound healing process that can explain differences in wound suberin deposition of chipping cultivars that differ in storage life and susceptibility to devastating post-harvest tuber rots. We identified 3 genes that are important for the wound healing process in potato tubers.
4. We demonstrated that important commercial varieties that are used for long term storage differ in their wound healing and that this wound healing is heritable. In a cross between more rapid and slower wound healing potato varieties, we demonstrated that desirable wound healing can be identified in the progeny. Differences in wound healing could be detected as soon as three days after wounding. We developed a wound healing assay based on the digestibility of the healing layers by cell wall degrading enzymes that can be used to identify desirable wound healing in the progeny for breeding programs.
An important component of our work was to broaden public understanding and train the next generation of scientists to use plant science to tackle real-world problems that impact food security. To this end, we hosted a series of workshops for educators and high school students. We developed a series of modules for high school lab activities that were centered on "Understanding Genetically Engineered Organisms". These modules were disseminated to high school agriculture teachers through a workshop for the Nevada Agriculture Teacher's Association. We also hosted annual workshops for Nevada Future Farmers of American high school students focused on understanding how plants respond to wounding stress at the molecular genetic level. Furthermore, our efforts resulted in intense research training for more than 22 undergraduate and master's students, 3 Ph.D. students, 2 postdoctoral research scholars, 3 technicians, and 2 high school students with at least 15 of these being self-identified members of groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM. Our research efforts were also communicated to the public through presentations at the Nevada Farms Conference, University of Nevada Reno's annual field day, Michigan State University's annual potato research field day, and meetings with industry experts from the Frito-Lay subsidiary of PepsiCo.
Last Modified: 05/26/2022
Modified by: Dylan K Kosma
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.
