Susan Wessler
University of California-Riverside, CA·Genetics
Most of the DNA in plant and animal genomes comes from transposable elements (TEs). These are mobile pieces of DNA that copy or move themselves from one spot in the genome to another.
- Fields
Genetics
Plant Science & Agriculture
Ecology & Evolution
- Topics
transposable elements
jumping genes
rice
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Apr 2027
What they work on
- Map the full range of structural genomic variation, including new insertions, copy number changes, presence/absence variants and inversions, created by the Ping/mPing mobile DNA burst in three rice recombinant inbred populations, using long-read DNA sequencing.
- Build a single-cell cis-regulatory atlas of rice, a cell-by-cell map of DNA control regions, using single-cell epigenetic analyses to identify accessible chromatin regions where mPing has inserted.
- Test how selected mPing insertions in targeted recombinant inbred lines alter epigenetic regulation and contribute to reproductive isolation, the barriers that keep rice lines from interbreeding.
- Use the roughly 50,000 new mPing insertions as a low-cost tool to quickly evaluate the function of accessible chromatin regions, the open DNA stretches where gene-regulating proteins bind.
More about the research
When a TE lands near a gene, it can change how that gene is switched on or off. TEs can also rearrange chromosomes and alter epigenetic marks, the chemical tags that control gene activity without changing the DNA sequence. These effects are now recognized as an important source of the variation that lets organisms adapt. As climate change speeds up, understanding how crop genomes become more diverse could help breeders feed future generations.
Why it matters
Crop breeders need sources of genetic variation to develop rice and other crops that can cope with a changing climate. Showing how a burst of mobile DNA rapidly creates structural and regulatory diversity could inform efforts to diversify crop genomes. The tens of thousands of new insertions also offer a cheaper, faster way to test what gene-control regions do. The public datasets will help researchers who study plant pangenomes and genome regulation.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Alan P Boyle
University of Michigan, MI·Genetics
Quantify how transposable element activity changes binding of CTCF, a protein that anchors DNA loops, across a population sample of 51 well-studied individuals using computational methods.
Robert Schmitz
University of Georgia, GA·Genetics
Map accessible chromatin at single-cell resolution across multiple maize genetic backgrounds to identify cell-type-specific regulatory regions and transcription factor binding events.
Clemencia Rojas
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, NE·Plant Science & Agriculture
Identify the genes and biosynthetic pathways in Pseudomonas protegens PBL3 that produce antimicrobials against Burkholderia glumae, using genetics and comparative genomics.
The school
University of California-Riverside: 21 labs on PI Pages, $232M a year on research, 328 research doctorates a year.
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