[CEPCEB_All] CEPCEB Seminar: Qi Mu This Friday 10/17

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*Qi Mu*


* Integrating genetic regulation and phenotypic plasticity reveals
plant-environment interactions and opportunities for crop improvement*


*Date:* Friday, October 17

*Time:* 12:00 pm-1:00pm

*Location: *Genomics Auditorium 1102


*Abstract:*

Climate hazards pose significant challenges to global food security, making
it essential to understand how environmental factors shape plant
performance. Phenotypic plasticity, the ability of a genotype to express
different phenotypes across environments, represents a key mechanism
enabling plants to cope with environmental variability. As sessile
organisms, plants rely on intricate regulatory systems to integrate
environmental cues into developmental programs. Using sorghum plant height
as a model trait, our work revealed a complex interplay among the genome,
ontogeny, and environment underlying phenotypic plasticity. Large-scale,
multi-environment, and time-series analyses of a recombinant inbred line
population, combined with statistical modeling, revealed that sorghum
height is strongly affected by the diurnal temperature range during a
critical early growth window (40-53 days). Through fine-mapping and
CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis, we identified a MYB transcription factor
underlying a plastic plant height QTL, qHT7.1 in sorghum and its ortholog
Brachytic 1 in maize. Looking ahead, my lab aims to dissect the molecular
mechanisms underlying phenotypic plasticity and incorporate these insights
into breeding strategies to improve crop resilience against both biotic and
abiotic stresses. Together, these findings highlight how integrating
genetic regulation with phenotypic plasticity analyses can illuminate
plant-environment interactions and open new avenues for crop adaptation and
improvement.
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