~wondering how plants turn air+water+dirt into food!
On Friday May 27th, 2022, Paul gave a talk titled “What N is on the menu?” sharing his collaborative PhD research on the genetic basis of crop response to N forms to the audience at UC Davis Plant Sciences Symposium at the Alumni Center, UC Davis main campus. Paul was awarded the best oral presentation from the organizing committee. The recording of the talk can be found below.
Abstract - Wheat and rice together provide ~32% of protein in daily human diets worldwide. Crop protein may decline as atmospheric CO2 level rises. Responsiveness to CO2 depends on soil inorganic nitrogen (N) forms that plants assimilate, Nitrate (NO3-) or Ammonium (NH4+). Elevated CO2 concentrations inhibit the assimilation of NO3-, but not NH4+, into protein in shoots. Still, we have limited understanding of what controls crop responses to different N forms. To understand the genetic basis of N responses, we conducted genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on biomass accumulation in response to either NO3- or NH4+ as a sole N source of wheat and rice within USDA’s diversity panels that represent the genetic diversity in the global germplasm. Multiple loci with small effects contributed to N responses. We identified QTL that were consistently associated with biomass production across environments. The genetics underlying N source response in our study provides critical information for sustainable N management and crop improvement.
Big thanks to collaborators: Arnold Bloom, Jorge Dubcovsky, Daniel Kliebenstein, Junli Zhang, and Itay Cohen, and my undergraduate research team: Zennin G. Casl, Timothy Congleton, Zion Congrave-Wilson, Joshua Claxton, Samuel Doolittle, Anna Gomes, Ariel Herrera, Sydney Koelbel, Steven A. Kunze, Dana Lawrence, Khine Lin, Carly Miranda, Steven Moreno, Jenna O’Kelley, Elias Potashov, Francesco G. Riga, Temiloluwa Salako, Abenezer Shankute, Guilherme M. Silva, James K. Schmidt, Jordan Stefani, Lisa Tam, Kungyao Wang.
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