Establishment of the CRISPR-Cas9 methodology and obtaining knockout plants in candidate genes for regulators of alternative RNA processing in heat stress in rice

• Grant number: 21/12014-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: December 01, 2021
• End date: November 30, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Pant Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Cristiane Paula Gomes Calixto
• Grantee: João Henrique Servilha
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 19/13158-8 - Transcriptome-wide analysis of rice temperature memory and heat responses, AP.JP

Abstract

Rice is one of the most consumed foods in the world, but heat stress affects its yield and grain quality. To identify mechanistic solutions to improve rice cultivation under the threat of climate change, molecular responses of tolerance to heat stress must be identified. Transcriptional and post-transcriptional controls are involved in the wide range of environmental responses in plants. Alternative RNA processing, in particular, is a mechanism involved in the plant defense against stresses, but little is known about how the variation of transcribed isoforms is regulated by temperature changes. The levels and activity of hundreds of splicing factors and chromatin/DNA modifiers change in response to temperature, suggesting the involvement of these genes in regulating the alternative RNA processing of plants under heat stress conditions. The proteins encoded by the LOC_Os02g40900 and LOC_Os05g30140 genes in rice have RNA recognition motifs and both genes are possible candidates for heat-sensitive splicing regulators. This project aims at generating plasmids based on the CRISPR-Cas 9 methodology and use them to transform rice, thus enabling the study of the function of the LOC_Os02g40900 and LOC_Os05g30140 genes in non-transgenic mutant rice plants. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

SERVILHA, João Henrique. Establishment of the CRISPR/Cas9 methodology and obtaining knockout plants in candidate genes for alternative splicing regulators in heat stress in rice (Oryza sativa L.). 2024. Master's Dissertation - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Biociências (IBIOC/SB) São Paulo.