Project Details
Projekt
Male germ line initiation in maize
Applicant
Dr. Karina Katharina van der Linde
Subject Area
Plant Cell and Developmental Biology
Term
since 2021
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 448353073
In angiosperms, mature anthers harbor the male gametophyte (pollen), which is key to fertility and hence yield, especially in cereals. The first cell type that specifies from pluripotent anther primordia stem cells are germ line cells. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms regulating the specification of primordia stem cells to germ line cells. Research in Arabidopsis, rice and maize has identified some components including ligand-receptor modules, environmental factors, and small RNA pathways, which appear only partially conserved between monocots and dicots. Among the so far identified factors in A. thaliana are AtBAM (BARELY ANY MERISTEM) receptor-like kinases, which are also known regulators of stem cell maintenance and termination. Taken together, the known data indicated that differentiation of stem cells into the male germ line requires highly spatiotemporal regulated processes. Therefore, this project aims to identify novel factors to unravel interconnection of signaling networks as well as to understand differences between maize and Arabidopsis in male germ line initiation. To this end we will (i) identify gene expression patterns and small RNA pathways in different anther primordia cell groups using laser capture microdissection and/or single cell RNAseq approaches; (ii) select one novel candidate from these data sets for functional studies; and (iii) study the impact of ZmBAMs and their peptide ligands, most probably ZmCLEs (CLAVATA3 /EMBRYO SURROUNDING REGION-related) peptides, in maize male germ line initiation. Thereby this work will broaden our general understanding of initiation, specification and termination of stem cell-like systems in cereal development.
DFG Programme
Research Units
