A single protein in broccoli and cabbage acts as a sunlight sensor, and tweaking it could make these crops more nutritious and tougher against climate stress. Ultraviolet-B radiation in sunlight triggers a plant protein called UVR8, which controls how crops grow, defend themselves, and produce health-boosting compounds like flavonoids. Researchers already know this works in the lab plant *Arabidopsis*, but nobody has tested whether the same mechanism can be deliberately manipulated in a food crop. This project will fill that gap by studying *Brassica oleracea*—the species that gives us broccoli, kale, and cabbage—and its oilseed relative, oilseed rape. If the approach succeeds, farmers could grow *Brassica* vegetables with higher levels of phenolic compounds, which are antioxidants linked to human health. The crops might also better withstand pests, drought, or heat without requiring extra fertiliser or water. Because *Brassica oleracea* is a genetic precursor to oilseed rape—a major global source of cooking oil—the findings could ripple through both fresh-produce markets and the vegetable-oil supply chain. The project is fundamental science: it asks how a sunlight sensor works in a crop, not how to build a product. But similar discoveries about plant light sensing have already led to tailored greenhouse lighting and improved harvest timing.
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Food security is defined when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. As plant biologists, we need to aim for increased productivity and improved nutritional quality of crops to realize food security objectives. In addition, nowadays we have to address the food security issue with the challenge of climate change, which means that we need crops that are more resilient to abiotic and biotic stresses. Sunlight provides the energy source for plants. UV-B radiation, as an intrinsic component of sunlight, additionally works as a key stimulus to regulate numerous aspects of plant growth and development through the UV-B photoreceptor UV RESISTANCE LOCUS 8 (UVR8). UVR8 is the only identified photoreceptor that specifically perceives UV-B and has been proven to regulate multiple responses including metabolism, morphogenesis, defence, photosynthetic competence, thermomorphogenesis, flowering time, etc, many of which are relevant to crop productivity and nutritional quality. My recent work with Arabidopsis has shown that UVR8 is phosphorylated and a highly conserved amino acid in the C-terminal region, Serine 402 (S402) is the main site. I showed that S402 phosphorylation differentially affects protein interactions with UVR8 and enhances the accumulation of hydroxycinnamic acids and flavonoids. This is a groundbreaking discovery in the field that reveals the role of UVR8 phosphorylation in regulation of flavonoid biosynthesis, which is important to both abiotic and biotic stress tolerance and the nutritional quality of harvested products. Discoveries in model plants such as Arabidopsis can provide important directions for crop improvement. UVR8 is a highly conserved protein in the plant kingdom. However, there is little information on how UV-B could regulate crop growth and development through UVR8 and how UVR8 could be manipulated in crops to improve crop productivity, nutritional quality and resilience to climate change. In this Fellowship I will choose Brassica oleracea as the model crop, which is in the same taxonomic family as Arabidopsis. B. oleracea is a widely cultivated vegetable species integral to human diets. It also a genetic pre-cursor of B. napus, which is the major global crop oilseed rape. The discoveries in B. oleracea could be a good indicator for many vegetable and oilseed species. My aim in the project is to apply fundamental discoveries about UVR8 in Arabidopsis to Brassica crops. My specific objectives are to (i) Identify the beneficial traits of B. oleracea regulated by UV-B; (ii) characterize UVR8 function in B. oleracea; (iii) modify B. oleracea UVR8 to improve beneficial traits. To achieve the objectives, I will firstly characterize UVR8 in B. oleracea and investigate UV-B regulated phenotypes under various conditions. I will then use the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)-Cas gene-editing technology to knock out UVR8 in B. oleracea, which will enable me to investigate the role of UVR8 in valuable traits. Finally, I will modify B. oleracea UVR8 based on my recent research in Arabidopsis, in particular to increase the content of phenolic compounds. This project will provide the first information on how UVR8 photoreceptor research could enhance the quality of crops, which will give new opportunities for Brassica crop improvement. The discoveries from this project could eventually contribute to realizing the objectives of global food security.
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