Attending Monogram 2018 gave me a fantastic insight into the broad range of high quality research that is being conducted in the small grains community. As a PhD student, working on a specific project, it can become easy to neglect research that is outside of your primary focus. In addition, it is easy to lose sight of how your own research fits into the bigger picture and how important it is to understand how your own research can be applied.
Related to applied research, I particularly enjoyed the talk given by the plenary speaker Professor Scott Haley. Professor Haley described how his group is using genomics and bioinformatics to improve wheat varieties for farmers. He touched upon the challenges of working with farmers that are responsible for thousands of hectares of farmland and the enjoyment he has had developing a relationship between scientists and farmers.
Another aspect of Monogram 2018 that I found interesting was the opportunity to learn about how technology and the tools now available to scientists working with crop species have developed. This includes how the latest wheat genome reference is being used to assist research.
Furthermore, learning about the progress that has been made in gene editing at NIAB in rice, wheat and barley was exciting. In addition to gene editing, it was fascinating to find out how the TILLING populations in wheat are now being used widely by researchers. I have used this technology in my own research so it was interesting to see how other groups have taken advantage of this resource.
Ben gives a Flash talk at Monogram 2018
Of real interest was the talk given by James Simmonds from the Uauy lab. He discussed how the generation of double and triple mutants were allowing their group to test hypotheses. He also briefly discussed the notion of speed breeding to reduce the time taken to generate these mutants which could be helpful for my own research.
Attending Monogram also gave me the opportunity to see how other PhD students were getting along in their own projects. With the support of GARNet, I presented a poster at Monogram 2017 in Bristol. This year enabled me to talk to students I had met in Bristol and discuss the progress that had been made in our respective work. I truly enjoyed the MonoGram 2018 meeting and I am extremely grateful for the support of GARNet that has allowed me to attend.
This weeks GARNet research roundup includes six excellent papers investigating many aspects of Arabidopsis cell biology. Firstly Eirini Kaiserli from Glasgow introduces a novel regulator of blue-light signaling. Second is a paper that analyses the circadian clock with single cell resolution and is led by James Locke (SLCU) and Anthony Hall (Earlham Institute). The next two papers investigate different aspects of hormone signaling, with Keith Lindsey’s group at Durham looking at the relationshop between the HYDRA protein and the auxin response whilst Ottoline Leysers group in Cambridge looks at the link between auxin and cytokinin during shoot growth. The fifth paper from Phillip Mullineaux (University of Essex) provides a genome-wide analysis into the role of HEAT SHOCK TRANSCRIPTION FACTORA1b protein. The final paper from the lab of Piers Hemsley (James Hutton Institute, University of Dundee) should be of interest to many plant molecular biologists as they assess the functional significance of different epitope tags.
Perrella G, Davidson MLH, O’Donnell L, Nastase AM, Herzyk P, Breton G, Pruneda-Paz JL, Kay SA, Chory J, Kaiserli E (2018) ZINC-FINGER interactions mediate transcriptional regulation of hypocotyl growth in Arabidopsis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.. pii: 201718099. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1718099115
Open Access
Eirini Kaiserli (University of Glasgow) leads this study that identifies the ZINC-FINGER HOMEODOMAIN 10 (ZFHD10) as a novel regulator of light signaling. ZFHD10 physically interacts with TANDEM ZINC-FINGER PLUS3 (TZP) and these proteins coassociate at promotors that are blue-light regulated. These results reveal of novel mechanism of action for the key multiple signal integrator TZP in the light regulated growth of Arabidopsis hypocotyls.
Gould PD, Domijan M, Greenwood M, Tokuda IT, Rees H, Kozma-Bognar L, Hall AJ, Locke JC (2018). Coordination of robust single cell rhythms in the Arabidopsis circadian clock via spatial waves of gene expression. Elife. 26;7. pii: e31700. doi: 10.7554/eLife.31700Open Access
https://elifesciences.org/articles/31700
This paper is led by James Locke (SLCU) and Anthony Hall (Earlham) and investigates the circadian clock at single cell resolution. They use Arabidopsis plants grown in constant environmental conditions to show two desynchronised yet robust single cell oscillations that move both up and down the root. Their results indicate that the clock shows cell-to-cell coupling and they they modeled this relationship to recapitulate the observed waves of activity. Overall their results are suggestive of multiple coordination points for the Arabidopsis clock, which is different from the mammalian system of regulation.
Short E, Leighton M, Imriz G, Liu D, Cope-Selby N, Hetherington F, Smertenko A, Hussey PJ, Topping JF, Lindsey K (2018) Epidermal expression of a sterol biosynthesis gene regulates root growth by a non-cell autonomous mechanism in Arabidopsis. Development . pii: dev.160572. doi: 10.1242/dev.160572 Open Access
This collaboration between the research groups of Keith Lindsey and Patrick Hussey at the University of Durham investigates the role of the HYDRA1 (HYD1) sterol Δ8-Δ7 isomerase in epidermal patterning. This tissue shows highest HYD1 expression and hyd mutants have major root patterning defects. Tissue-specific expression of HYD1 indicates that it is involved with some type of non-cell autonomous signaling. Analysis of PIN1 and PIN2 protein expression suggests that auxin might be this functional signal
Waldie T, Leyser O (2018) Cytokinin targets auxin transport to promote shoot branching. Plant Physiol. 2018 May 1. pii: pp.01691.2017. doi: 10.1104/pp.17.01691.Open Access
This study from the lab of Ottoline Leyser (SLCU) investigates the integration between the plant hormones cytokinin and auxin. They investigate the role of cytokinin in shoot branching through analysis of Arabidopsis Response Regulators (ARRs) mutants. They show arr mutant phenotypes correlate with changes in stem auxin transport mediated by the PIN3, PIN4 and PIN7 efflux carriers, the expression of each respond to cytokinin signaling. Overall this study identifies a novel alternative pathway by which cytokinin impacts bud outgrowth through alterations in auxin transport.
Albihlal WS, Irabonosi O, Blein T, Persad R, Chernukhin I, Crespi M, Bechtold U, Mullineaux PM (2018) Arabidopsis Heat Shock Transcription FactorA1b regulates multiple developmental genes under benign and stress conditions. J Exp Bot. doi: 10.1093/jxb/ery142 Open Access
Phillip Mullineaux (University of Essex) leads this collaboration with French colleagues in a study that investigates the genome-wide targets of the HEAT SHOCK TRANSCRIPTION FACTORA1b (HSFA1b) protein. Under non-stress ad heat-stress conditions they showed that 1000s of genes are differentially expressed with a smaller proportion of genes showing different levels of direct interaction. The indirect targets of HSFA1b are regulated through a network of 27 transcription factors and they also provide evidence for the role of hundreds of natural antisense non-coding RNA in the regulation of HSFA1b targets. Overall they show that HSFA1b is a key regulator of environmental cues to regulate both developmental genes and those involved in stress tolerance.
Hurst CH, Turnbull D, Myles SM, Leslie K, Keinath NF, Hemsley PA (2018) Variable effects of C-terminal tags on FLS2 function – not all epitope tags are created equal. Plant Physiol. doi: 10.1104/pp.17.01700 Open Access
This study from the Hemsley lab (James Hutton Institute, University of Dundee) is a cautionary tale on the use and interpretation of results obtained from experiments with commonly-used epitope tags. They assessed the activity of plants containing transgenic FLS2 proteins, which is a receptor-like kinase (RLKs) involved in the defence response. They show that various FLS2 C-terminal epitope fusions reveal highly variable and unpredictable outputs, indicating that the presence of different tags significantly alters protein function. This finding might require a reassessment of many experiments that rely on interpreting the function of epitope-tagged proteins and has significant for many if not all plant molecular biologists.
GARNet is a community-facing UK network funded by BBSRC through Responsive Mode that supports the delivery of outstanding plant science research. GARNet’s primary focus is supporting researchers who work on fundamental areas of plant science, particularly around the adoption of new technologies and new ways of working. Recently members of the plant science community have expressed concerns about a perceived lack of opportunities to obtain funding for fundamental plant science.
The primary mechanism for obtaining funding of this type comes through BBSRC Responsive Mode funding predominantly via Research Committee B: Plants, microbes, food and sustainability. As a service to the community, GARNet asked the BBSRC to analyse their data regarding the number of plant science applications, which is not in the public domain. The BBSRC found that the number of total plant science applications is declining in line with the number of funded projects. However the number of applications to study aspects of fundamental plant science is declining at a faster rate (Figure 1).
Therefore GARNet investigated the factors that might have contributed to this worrying trend and our findings allowed us to make a series of recommendations outlined below. The discussion and reasoning that led to these recommendations is included in a longer article that is available for download from the GARNet website.
A- showing number of submitted and successful grants from Responsive Mode that propose to work on any aspect of plant science (2014-2017) B- showing number of submitted and successful grants from Responsive Mode that propose to work on an aspect of fundamental plant science (2014-2017). Data provided by BBSRC.
Recommendations
1. GARNet and other UK plant science stakeholders to spread the message that the BBSRC is ‘open-for-business’ to fund world-class grants based on fundamental plant science, including Arabidopsis-only or other plant model-only research.
2. GARNet and other UK plant science stakeholders to encourage the academic community to review Responsive Mode grants and to apply to join Research Committees. Currently, this is a particularly important action point for fundamental plant scientists.
3. GARNet uncovered considerable confusion over what can be considered ‘Impact’ within Responsive Mode proposals. We recommend that BBSRC circulates updated information to potential applicants and Research Committee panel members to clarify what exactly can be considered as ‘Impact’. The BBSRC is providing a piece on this topic for GARNish issue 29, published in Summer 2018.
4. Plant scientists are encouraged to submit their proposal to Research Committee B, but where more appropriate for the proposed research program they are also invited to submit to any of the other Research Committees. Should BBSRC deem it necessary to transfer proposals between committees, they will provide applicants the choice to withdraw their proposal.
5. BBSRC to advise potential applicants that world-class fundamental research is appropriate to be included in relevant GCRF applications, provided that it includes a clear long-term path toward a demonstrable benefit in an ODA country.
6. Given the success of IPAs, we recommend BBSRC reassesses the criteria for evaluating these grants. BBSRC could look into the possibility of capping the number of successful LINK/IPA proposals to a reasonable proportion of funded applications within a single grant round. Grants of sufficient quality would be encouraged to reapply in subsequent funding rounds if they do not fit under the cap in any one round.
7. Plant scientists are encouraged to engage with BBSRC to suggest areas that are relevant for special grant calls. The BBSRC has some flexibility to use Newton Fund and GCRF calls to respond to novel areas of research interest if there is a demonstrable community need.
A major part of this activity includes supporting training opportunities for early career researchers. These can take the form of Short Term Scientific Missions (STSMs) and we are currently accepting applications for the 3rd round of STSMs. This call has a deadline of May 31st.
STSMs are exchange visits between researchers (PhD student, postdoc or permanent staff) from a COST member country involved in INDEPTH, allowing scientists from the home institution to visit an host institution from another COST member country;
These are aimed at fostering collaboration, sharing new techniques and infrastructure that may not be available in other participants’ institutions;
STSMs must be a minimum of 5 calendar days and a maximum of 90 calendar days;
The should support the Action in achieving at least one its specific objectives listed below:
Generate standardized protocols in 3D imaging of the nucleus (WG1), nuclear proteomics (WG2), chromatin domains (WG2), phenotyping during development & under stress conditions (WG3);
Collect plant data sets in 3D imaging of the nucleus (WG1), nuclear proteomics (WG2), chromatin domains (WG2), phenotyping during development & under stress conditions (WG3);
Perform analyses using the collected datasets to predict the nuclear protein interactome (WG4);
Create new application tools such as new softwares (WG1, WG4), new bioinformatic pipelines to predict Protein-Protein Interactions (PPI) (WG4) and periodicity and distribution patterns (WG4);
Promote synergies between model and cultivated plant species; foster the transfer of knowledge between model and cultivated species and creation of intellectual property in image analysis
More information about this STSM can be download here and the general STSM rules can be downloaded here.
If you require more information then please contact INDEPTH STSM Coordinator Laszlo KOZMA- BOGNAR.
Over the past thirty years the Multinational Arabidopsis Steering Committee (MASC) has represented the global Arabidopsis community through its collaborative oversight of the annual International Conference on Arabidopsis Research (ICAR), production of a MASC annual report and preparation of the series of decadal Roadmaps that have helped coordinate the future activities of the community. In[…]
https://meetings.embo.org/event/20-plant-systems This EMBO Workshop on international Plant Systems Biology (iPSB) is the central gathering of plant systems biology researchers from across the world. Climate change poses unique challenges for how to feed and power humanity without further degrading the environment. Plant science therefore is a key discipline in meeting the challenge of adapting food and[…]
The spring season of #UKPlantSciPresents begins on January 12th and we have a strong schedule set until the end of April! Each webinar is at Tuesday afternoon at 3pm GMT (or BST)! Registration is free and webinars will be made freely available soon after the event. Although closed captioning/subtitles are not available for live webinars,[…]
The previously awesome #GARNetPresents webinar series is morphing into the #UKPlantSciPresents webinar series. This series has the aim of promoting plant science excellence across the UK! UK plant science research uses many different experimental organisms such as Arabidopsis, Wheat, Brassicas, Brachypodium, Marchantia, Physomitrella and many others. This webinar series is supported by both GARNet and[…]
Contents: – Society Updates– Introducing Quantitative Plant Biology– Congratulations to Ottoline Leyser– Conference Updates– Bacterial Plant Diseases Programme– Introducing CHAP– Twenty Years of GARNet– GARNet Research Roundup– MASC Publication Update– Plant RNA Interactome Capture– Update on new BBSRC Projects– Spotlight on University of Nottingham Download here: https://www.garnetcommunity.org.uk/sites/default/files/newsltr/GARNish33_Online_Final_0.pdf
Marcel Bach-Pages works with Gail Preston at the University of Oxford and we discuss a new protocol to identify the RNA-Binding Proteome from Arabidopsis leaves. This community-focused work includes full instructions for use of the protocol and they provide an accessible list of proteins that they have identified. This research is published in Biomolecules and[…]
This edition of GARNet Research Roundup begins with a remarkable four papers that include work from Caroline Dean’s lab at the John Innes Centre. The first two papers are collaborations with members of Martin Howard’s lab and look at the molecular mechanisms that control long-term cold sensing or the antisense regulation of FLC respectively. The[…]
Christos Velanis works at the University of Edinburgh and discusses work published in PloS Genetics entitled ‘The domesticated transposase ALP2 mediates formation of a novel Polycomb protein complex by direct interaction with MSI1, a core subunit of Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2)‘. http://blog.garnetcommunity.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Velanis_edit-13072020-09.32.mp3 Pumi Perera is co-first author on this work from the Goodrich lab[…]
This has been a challenging time for both conference organisers and conference venues. Most 2020 plant science conferences have cancelled, postponed or majorly changed their events. Below is a non-exhaustive list of the changes that have been made to different conferences. Up to date as July 6th 2020. (download)
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