On the Challenge of Sustainable Agriculture and Ecosystem under Diverse Environments

Our aim in this study is to gain better understanding of how crop plants perceive and acclimate to environmental variables at the molecular level, with a specific focus on the molecular mechanisms controlling plant’s developmental transition in response to temperature fluctuations. Plants adapt to high-temperature environments by adjusting the timing of reproductive growth: some species accelerate reproductive growth to expedite offspring production, while others delay the process to mitigate the adverse effects of heat on reproductive development. Cold stress may inhibit reproductive transition and cause damages or disruption to metabolic processes, leading to reduced growth rates and potentially trigger dormancy or cold acclimation in some plant species.
Our recent work with soybeans has identified two potential mechanisms that plants may employ in order to respond to temperatures: epigenetics and alternative splicing. Epigenetics, organisms’ ability to change their characteristics without altering their DNA sequences, plays a crucial role in plant development as it allows plants to respond to environmental cues. Since epigenetics does not require permanent genetic modifications, this process can occur rapidly under changing environments. The mechanisms of epigenetic effects involve chemical modifications such as methylation and acetylation that occur on DNA nucleotides and on histone proteins attached to DNA. Recent studies suggest that certain DNA or histone modifications and specific histone variants can influence transcriptional activities of the genome and control plant thermosensory mechanisms, including plant’s developmental transition and reproductive growth. Alternative splicing is a post-transcriptional gene regulation mechanism unique to eukaryotic organisms that facilitates the production of multiple transcript and protein isoforms from a single gene. This process is frequently observed in response to environmental abiotic stressors, allowing organisms to adapt and respond to changing conditions. Alternative splicing involves the selective inclusion or exclusion of exons in a precursor messenger RNA (mRNA) molecule. This process generates a diverse array of variably spliced mRNA transcripts, which serve as templates for protein translation. The resulting protein isoforms may exhibit distinct sequences and possess unique functional properties in plant adaptation to specific environmental conditions.

In this project, we will characterize the roles of histone variants and splicing isoforms that we have identified previously in soybeans in plant adaptation to diverse temperature conditions using CRISPR genome editing and chromatin immunoprecipitation technologies.