Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TransEpiSeed (TransEpiSeed: The role of mRNA methylation in control of seed germination)
Berichtszeitraum: 2021-01-01 bis 2022-12-31
The project is aiming at revealing the molecular mechanism behind RNA methylation in the control of seed germination. Seed germination is essential for modern agriculture represented by mechanic sowing, which has high demands on homogenous germination with high seed vigor. The results from the current project will provide fundamental support in agricultural practice and plant breeding. The overall objectives are 1) Investigate methylation patterns for the ribosome-associated mRNA in seeds. 2) Conduct genome-wide profiling of m6A in mRNA at single nucleic acid resolution during seed germination.3) Examine the physiological role of carefully selected m6A “reader” protein in seeds. 4) Characterization of the molecular function of the m6A “reader” proteins.
Work performed from project includes but not limited to plant molecular biology, plant genetics, plant genomics, bioinformitics etc. The main results include 1) Phenotypic and genomic screening the funtion of m6A reader proteins for their role in seed germination. 2) Identify the key m6A reader ECT2 and its mRNA targets during seed germination. 3) Expression analysis of ECT234 downstream genes. The project has been presented in several meeting and conference. The data generated from current result will be published in peer-reviewed journal and could be further explored for understanding the regulation of RNA methylation in seeds.
The results from the current project provide an overview of the role of m6A reader protein family played in seeds. The large impact of the TE234 axis on seed quality such as seed dormancy, longevity and stress tolerance. Due to the conservation of ECT family proteins, the result can be further explored in crops for breading better quality seeds under the background of global warming.