Shaping fruit morphogenesis of floWEring plants by ElucidaTing HEART-shaped fruit development in Capsella rubella

Informazioni relative al progetto

SWEETHEART

ID dell’accordo di sovvenzione: 841689

DOI

10.3030/841689

Progetto chiuso

Data della firma CE 18 Marzo 2019

Data di avvio 1 Aprile 2019

Data di completamento 31 Marzo 2021

Finanziato da

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Costo totale

€ 212 933,76

Contributo UE

€ 212 933,76

Coordinato da

JOHN INNES CENTRE
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SWEETHEART (Shaping fruit morphogenesis of floWEring plants by ElucidaTing HEART-shaped fruit development in Capsella rubella)

Periodo di rendicontazione: 2019-04-01 al 2021-03-31

Sintesi del contesto e degli obiettivi generali del progetto

The flowering plants (angiosperms) evolved over 100 million years ago and quickly colonized every habitable corner of the planet. Such success hinges largely on their extraordinary reproduction system. Among all, fruit development is an essential process to protect and nurture developing seeds and eventually promote successful dissemination of viable progeny into habitable environmental niches. The Brassicaceae family comprises approximately 3,700 species including the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and several agriculturally and economically important crops from the Brassica species, such as B. oleracea (broccoli) and B. napus(canola). Although the overall composition
and organization of fruit tissues are highly conserved among members of the Brassicaceae family, massive variation is observed in fruit shape, from simple spheres and cylinders to more complex curved forms. However, the mechanism underlying such diversity is still poorly understood. In many cases it is not immediately evident what advantages the different shapes provide for fitness and dispersal. It is also unclear how such variation in form can evolve when coordination of tissue growth and specification is of pivotal importance for timely development and seed release.
To investigate factors controlling fruit shape, Capsella rubella is emerging as a good comparative model against Arabidopsis due to the distinct heart-shaped fruit shape and its close evolutionary proximity. In summary, my SWEETHEART project aimed to address this knowledge gap by answering several important questions:
(1) Can I find other factors exist that control fruit shape in Capsella?
(2) How is the well-known protein ANGUSTIFOLIA (AN) controlling fruit development in Arabidopsis and Capsella?
(3) To which extent is the AN/FUL/IND module controlling fruit shape in Arabidopsis and Capsella?
Answering these questions will contribute to our understanding of plant organ morphogenesis in general and help to explain fruit-shape diversity in Brassicaceae in particular. Importantly, oilseed rape is the 2nd most important oilseed crop worldwide and the study of fruit development will provide insight for the crop breeding industry in developing varieties with improved performance in terms of yield.

Lavoro eseguito dall’inizio del progetto fino alla fine del periodo coperto dalla relazione e principali risultati finora ottenuti

In order to understand novel regulators in fruit development in Capsella, I’ve characterized and cloned the mutant swt. It encodes an oxysterol binding protein ORP2A. Arabidopsis mutant is its ortholog shows abnormal growth particularly in valve region and the mature silique of orp2a also shows a distinct phenotype.
From objectives 1 and 2 of my MSCA SWEETHEART, I was trying to understand the molecular mechanism on how AN/FUL/IND controls fruit shape formation in Capsella.
Due to the unavailability of a significant amount of source material prepared by a previous member of my host laboratory, I was required to first validate if mutation in CrAN is responsible for htl phenotype. This was necessary if this project, and its results, were to be considered valid. This unexpected delay, together with time spent on Capsella floral dipping protocol optimization as well as disruption from pandemic, meant most of the materials are still under generation. However, the resources created will form the basis for continued work. In addition, I’ve demonstrated CrAN protein does not interact with candidate proteins involved in e.g. polarity establishment.

Progressi oltre lo stato dell’arte e potenziale impatto previsto (incluso l’impatto socioeconomico e le implicazioni sociali più ampie del progetto fino ad ora)

Using NGS sequencing, I have identified the mutated gene in the swt mutant. Moreover, I demonstrate that the orthologus gene in Arabidopsis has a role in fruit development. This exciting discovery on identification of SWT(ORP2A) as a novel regulator of fruit development will open a new page in plant development research. Currently this project is under preparation to submit to a special collection on Developmental Biology at Frontiers in Plant Science (invited).

Additionally, I have built a large scientific network by communicating and interacting with scientists all over the world in different fields of plant biology. I have also interacted with industry, farmers and breeders via BRAVO project (Strategic LoLa on Brassica crop research funded by the UK national funding organization, BBSRC). In the summer 2019, I was invited to meet with local farmers in China and undertook a translation seminar with Dr. Rachel Wells.

The Covid-19 pandemic had a tremendous impact on the progress of project, as the pandemic which hit right in the middle of the fellowship. I was ready to exploit the resources I had developed in the project by the time lock-down restrictions began and access to plant-growth facilities became limited. However, as a scientist working in the UK and under the scheme of European research council, my work has been recognized by many different societies. I have been invited to be peer reviewer for New Phytologist and Plant Physiology. During pandemic, I dedicated part of my time engaging in various science communication activities. Currently I’m the feature editor of Molecular Plant and have published two well-received research highlights as first and corresponding author. I’ve also hosted an online seminar delivered by PhD student in TSL with his recent breakthrough discovery published in Nature.
These experiences have enhanced my professional and personal growth by acquiring new complementary knowledge and skills such as scientific writing, project management and leadership.

Upon finishing the work proposed by my MSCA SWEETHEART project, I gained new knowledge and skills, that will benefit me to become an independent researcher in the future. MSCA fellowship also helps me explore outside of academia, which will open up more versatile career paths for me.

SWT is a novel regulator in fruit development