NSF Award
2423128
Peanuts constitute a significant source of plant protein, which can be affected by pre-harvest aflatoxin contamination, negatively impacting the peanut industry and food safety. Recent studies have shown that plants develop stress “memory” in response to recurring abiotic and biotic challenges to develop resistance to stress conditions, including fungal pathogens that produce the aflatoxin. This project focuses on understanding the specific mechanisms underlying stress “memory” development and how it plays a role in plants’ adaptation process under changing climate. The advancement of large-scale biotechnologies and molecular tools has led to more efficient strategies for elucidating peanut stress tolerance mechanisms. This project will determine the major molecules and their associated regulatory and metabolic pathways involved in stress tolerance. The research will be incorporated into a well-developed outreach program for graduate- and undergraduate-level curriculum development in Systems Biology and in K-12 education. The new knowledge will be disseminated to the scientific community and the public to provide insight into peanut improvement through molecular breeding programs. <br/><br/>This project seeks to integrate transcriptome, proteome, and metabolomics to develop a comprehensive molecular profile of peanuts under different stress conditions, which also serve as a model for the legumes. This project will monitor the combined effects of drought stress and Aspergillus invasion on aflatoxin production and determine the molecular interrelationships. The impact of drought stress on Aspergillus invasion and subsequent differential expression of transcripts, proteins, posttranslational modifications, and metabolites will be studied to elucidate the regulatory and metabolic pathways involved in the combined stresses. The changes in the proteome and metabolome will be investigated in resistant and susceptible genotypes using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. A comprehensive molecular network of peanut cross-tolerance will be constructed and disseminated to the scientific community. Collectively, the project aims to address the critical gaps in peanut cross-tolerance, uncover key nodes and edges in molecular networks, and advance important research areas that potentially impact peanut improvement and the bioeconomy. <br/><br/>This project is co-funded by the Systems and Synthetic Biology Program in Molecular and Cellular Biosciences and the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), which provides awards to strengthen STEM undergraduate education and research at HBCUs.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
