Systems Level Regulation of Rhythmic Growth Rate and Biomass Accumulation in Grasses.

摘要

Critical to the development of renewable energy sources from biofuels is the improvement of biomass from energy feedstocks, such as sorghum and maize. To facilitate this improvement under the current DOE award, we initiated a series of experiments designed to identify and manipulate molecular networks involved with diurnal growth regulation in sorghum and the emerging monocot model, Brachypodium distachyon. The specific goals of this project include 1) characterize the growth and gene expression patterns under diurnal and circadian conditions, 2) select transcription factors associated with growth and build a cis-regulatory network in yeast, and 3) perturb these transcription factors in planta using transgenic Brachypodium and sorghum, and characterize the phenotypic outcomes as they relate to biomass accumulation. A better understanding of diurnally regulated growth behavior in grasses may lead to species-specific mechanisms highly relevant to future strategies to optimize energy crop biomass yield.