PI: Fredy Altpeter (University of Florida) Co-PIs: Nathan Springer (University of Minnesota); C. Neal Stewart (University of Tennessee)
The workshop brings together a diverse group of scientists to explore solutions to a critical bottleneck in plant functional genomics. DNA sequencing itself is no longer a challenge in genomics. Instead, the roadblock is how to understand gene function, which ultimately requires that each gene be altered or replaced cheaply, quickly and efficiently. At the present time, such ability has not seen any improvements over the past decade, and has been identified as a crushing bottleneck to further discoveries of gene function by the plant genomics research community. This workshop will identify gaps in knowledge, training and tools needed to advance the ability to edit genomes by adding or removing DNA from plant cells. Workshop participants will discuss over-arching questions about the nature of the science involved and the technical problems to overcome, discuss how the science can move forward, and explore how to broaden participation. The steering committee will collate the community-driven ideas into a guiding document, or white paper, which will serve as the roadmap for future actions, and which will be published for wide dissemination.
The ability to knock out or overexpress genes remains the gold standard for the validation of gene function. Knockouts could be obtained at random from mutagenesis or from transposon or T-DNA tagging, but the process is inefficient. Alternatively, knockouts can be directed towards the gene being studied via RNAi technology. Recently the advent of CRISPR/Cas9 technology has made targeted gene modification very efficient. However, plant tissue culture, genetic transformation, and regeneration are still needed, and these areas have had little research over the past decade. As a consequence, advances in genomics are being hindered. Accordingly, workshop participants will 1) Inventory the state of the art (efficiency), current capacity, and the research community's needs for transformation technologies; 2) Evaluate research and funding strategies to meet current and future needs, including the possibility of establishing centralized facilities; 3) Evaluate what is known about the biology of transformation and identify knowledge gaps; and 4) Evaluate alternative technologies for transformation, including the potential of nanotechnology and strategies that will minimize or ultimately avoid the use of tissue culture for transformation of crop plants. The result will be a roadmap of funding priorities, including those research problems that require immediate solutions and those that require longer time frames to bring to fruition. The roadmap will be published in an open-access, refereed journal.
