Establishment of genome editing in barley and other crop species for research and crop improvement

The CRISPR/Cas9 system is an efficient, and highly specific genome editing technology which has been introduced into basic and applied sciences with stunning velocity. CRISPR/Cas9 system provides precise genome modifications directly in valuable local cultivars, even the introduction of multiple traits, saving the time-consuming backcrossing procedure of conventional breeding approaches. In addition, the potential of CRISPR/Cas9 provides alternative approaches circumventing the drawbacks associated with traditional genetically modified organisms. It is inevitable to establish this ground breaking technology in Hungary and exploits its potential in basic and applied researches. The economically important barley (Hordeum vulgare) will be used to generate CRISPR/Cas9 edited plants. The genome editing targets will be selected to analyse basic biological processes and assess the efficiency of the technology in trait improvement, such as virus resistance and enhanced seed development. In long term, the generated basic knowledge can be translated into development genetic approaches leading to the improvement of economically important traits of currently used important local cultivars.

 https://www.otka-palyazat.hu/

Biology of RNA interference in model and crop plants: molecular link between biogenesis and action of small regulatory RNAs

Regulatory activity of RNA interference (RNAi) is based on the action of small (21-24 nucleotide long) RNA molecules. Large population of small RNAs can be produced from long double stranded RNA molecules, small interfering (si) RNAs, or evolutionally conserved sequence specific small RNAs are generated from hair-pin like RNA structures (precursor), micro (mi)RNAs. The importance of RNAi is reflected by its involvement in developmental processes determining important traits of crop plants, in biotic and abiotic stress responses, including heat stresses and trough the activity of RNA dependent DNA methylation in the maintenance and protection of genome stability. Our recent experiments revealed that the biogenesis of miRNAs is not always resulted in the incorporation of miRNAs in the executor complexes. Our data indicate that this phenomenon is linked to the secondary structures of miRNA precursors. With the support of the proposed grant we would like to investigate the role of RNAi machinery connected proteins and secondary structural elements of miRNA precursors in determining the loading ability of small RNAs in the executor complexes. The gained results will be confirmed and further investigated in crop plants such as pepper and barley. From practical point of view these results will help to improve the efficiency of a widely used artificial miRNA molecular biology tool and will help the identification of small RNA species suitable for improving desired traits of crop plants.

https://www.otka-palyazat.hu/