Future proofing plants through enhancement of yield stability in water-limited environments

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Hannah Schneider
• Subject Area: Plant Breeding and Plant Pathology ; Plant Genetics and Genomics ; Plant Physiology
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 552441349

The identification of climate-resilient genotypes has been elusive due to the complex nature of plant water uptake, distribution, and loss. Although many molecular and organismal traits have been linked to drought tolerance under controlled conditions, these mostly fail to translate to enhanced field performance. A systems approach to understanding the dynamic soil-plant-atmosphere system is critical to making advances in crop improvement. Importantly, the US team has identified maize germplasm that is currently used in US maize breeding programs that exhibit diverse levels of yield stability (YS) under drought conditions in field trials. The overall objective of this project is to utilize this genetic material to identify a larger set of anatomical and physiological mechanisms underlying YS, to test the hypotheses generated via phenotyping, and to characterize gene complex to trait complex linkages. We are bringing together a diverse group with expertise in plant biology from the specific tissue systems including shoots (US partner) and roots (German partner) to the microbiome that interacts with these systems (UK partner). As a team, we propose a whole-plant-systems approach to identify the physiological mechanisms and the molecular and genetic bases for YS. We will address the issue of future proofing maize to a changing climate by utilizing the same genetic material across all three groups. The German group will utilize large, automated rhizotrons for root phenotyping and anatomy pipelines for root anatomical imaging and annotation. The US team will utilize proximal hyperspectral reflectance imaging to estimate a large number of physiological traits in shoots and metabolomics to associate important metabolites with osmotic adjustment and other potential biochemical mechanisms. The UK team will employ ionomics to characterize important nutrient/ion changes and root microbiota composition identification to establish the role of the microbiome in YS. Finally, the US team will conduct detailed transcriptome evaluations to determine the genetic bases for observed traits. Our overall goal is to characterize the processes of water movement through the soil-root-stem-leaf-atmosphere system and reveal those traits at each point in the system, using our field-tested germplasm, that contribute to enhanced YS in maize. The specific aims of this project are to: 1. Estimate a large number of anatomical, morphological, and physiological traits in leaves, stems, and roots of maize that correlate with YS under water stress, 2. perform cell-specific transcriptome analyses to characterize molecular components of response systems in roots and leaves, and utilize metabolomic, ionomic, and root microbiota collection to identify specific metabolites, ions, and microbes important to water movement, 3. validate the cellular and molecular bases for traits identified, including the microbiota, in our screen on selected materials to confirm phenotypic basis for YS.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: United Kingdom, USA
• Partner Organisation: Biotechnology und Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC); National Science Foundation (NSF)
• Cooperation Partners: Professor Gabriel Castrillo, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. John Couture; Professor Dr. Michael Mickelbart; Professor Mitchell Tuinstra, Ph.D.