The Cornell University Office of Sponsored Programs received a three-year, $648,068 Project Grant award from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) competitive grants program (CFDA #10.310).
The grant will fund research to gain a further understanding of chilling tolerance mechanisms in crop plants through the study of a rice casein kinase gene (CTK1) and its natural variants in both rice and maize. Researchers will test the hypotheses that CTK1 modulates chilling tolerance through phosphorylation of ribosomal protein S6 and modulation of ribosome activity, and that natural CTK1 variants can be identified to improve chilling tolerance. The work will be carried out through five objectives examining CTK1's effects on ribosomal protein S6 under chilling stress, direct phosphorylation of S6 by CTK1, effects on global translation activity, phosphorylation status of S6 and its impact on chilling tolerance, and identification of elite CTK1 alleles. The research is expected to generate novel knowledge on chilling tolerance mechanisms and provide genes and genetic variants to improve crop productivity under climate change.
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