Comparative-, Functional-, and Epi-Genomics of Legumes and Nodule Formation

University Of Georgia Research Foundation Inc, Athens GA

Investigators

Abstract

PI: Scott A. Jackson (University of Georgia) CoPIs: Robert J. Schmitz (University of Georgia) and Marc Libault (University of Oklahoma-Norman) Legumes are a group of plants that interact with soil-borne microorganisms to fix atmospheric nitrogen for plant use, an integral part of sustainable agriculture. Although this is a fundamental process, there are many components that are poorly understood and for which a better understanding may lead to plants that more efficiently fix nitrogen. In this project, epigenetic factors, e.g. non-Mendelian, will be examined to determine how these factors respond to interaction with soil microbes and during maturation of the nitrogen fixing organs in the plant. Data generated will include transcriptomes during and after microbe infection as well as epigenomes including DNA methylation and DNA histone modifications that may be induced or responsive to infection. In addition to a more fundamental understanding of the process of developing organs for nitrogen fixation in legumes, undergraduate students from colleges in New Mexico will be included in summer research internships and collaborative research during the academic year. Outreach seminars will be held in New Mexico to help develop genomics and bioinformatics opportunities for teachers and students to integrate these tools into curriculum and to expose them to the opportunities in this growing field. All sequence data will be deposited at the NCBI Short Read Archive (SRA) with associated metadata deposited at the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). In addition, all epigenetic data generated in this project will be available through appropriate genome databases including Phytozome, SoyBase and Medicago.org.