Speaker: Dior Kelley, GDCB assistant professor

Title: "Roles of auxin pathways driving maize root growth"

Abstract: We are interested in understanding the key regulatory events governing auxin-mediated root development in maize using an integrated genotype-to-phenotype approach. It has been proposed that reduced root development and/or altered root architecture would be advantageous for drought resistance and increased yield in maize. A major challenge in the field is identification of key regulators of various maize root types. Auxin is a key regulator of root morphogenesis across angiosperms and thus we hypothesized that auxin pathway proteins determine maize root systems. Using reverse genetics, we have recently identified three novel loss of function auxin pathway maize mutants from the Uniform Mu maize transposon collection. All three mutants have with altered root phenotypes which are linked to auxin responses. We hypothesize that an auxin response transcription factor ZmARF27 is required for proper gene expression during root formation. This idea is being tested using transcriptomic and ChIP-seq assays. Additionally, we have identified two putative auxin efflux carriers, ZmPILS2 and ZmPIL6, which may be required to establish asymmetric auxin distributions required for root growth. The roles of these PILS proteins are being examined using auxin transport assays and integrated omic analyses. Altogether this research will provide fundamental knowledge for generating predictive models that can be used to tailor maize root architecture for optimal yield.

Meeting link: https://iastate.webex.com/webappng/sites/iastate/meeting/download/435b7ce268dd493ba373fcd566ecdc43?siteurl=iastate&MTID=m552722056e5078dee22caa75af9541f1