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Abstract Course‐based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) provide students with valuable opportunities to engage in research in a classroom setting, expanding access to research opportunities for undergraduates, fostering inclusive research and learning environments, and bridging the gap between the research and education communities. While scientific practices, integral to the scientific discovery process, have been widely implemented in CUREs, there have been relatively few reports emphasizing the incorporation of core biology concepts into CURE curricula. In this study, we present a CURE that integrates core biology concepts, including genetic information flow, phenotype–genotype relationships, mutations and mutants, and structure–function relationships, within the context of mutant screening and gene loci identification. The design of this laboratory course aligns with key CURE criteria, as demonstrated by data collected through the laboratory course assessment survey (LCAS). The survey of undergraduate research experiences (SURE) demonstrates students' learning gains in both course‐directed skills and transferrable skills following their participation in the CURE. Additionally, concept survey data reflect students' self‐perceived understanding of the aforementioned core biological concepts. Given that genetic mutant screens are central to the study of gene function in biology, we anticipate that this CURE holds potential value for educators and researchers who are interested in designing and implementing a mutant screen CURE in their classrooms. This can be accomplished through independent research or by establishing partnerships between different units or institutions. 

Abstract ACYL CARRIER PROTEIN4 (ACP4) is the most abundant ACP isoform in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) leaves and acts as a scaffold for de novo fatty acid biosynthesis and as a substrate for acyl-ACP-utilizing enzymes. Recently, ACP4 was found to interact with a protein-designated plastid RHOMBOID LIKE10 (RBL10) that affects chloroplast monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) biosynthesis, but the cellular function of this interaction remains to be explored. Here, we generated and characterized acp4 rbl10 double mutants to explore whether ACP4 and RBL10 directly interact in influencing chloroplast lipid metabolism. Alterations in the content and molecular species of chloroplast lipids such as MGDG and phosphatidylglycerol were observed in the acp4 and rbl10 mutants, which are likely associated with the changes in the size and profiles of diacylglycerol (DAG), phosphatidic acid (PA), and acyl-ACP precursor pools. ACP4 contributed to the size and profile of the acyl-ACP pool and interacted with acyl-ACP-utilizing enzymes, as expected for its role in fatty acid biosynthesis and chloroplast lipid assembly. RBL10 appeared to be involved in the conversion of PA to DAG precursors for MGDG biosynthesis as evidenced by the increased 34:x PA and decreased 34:x DAG in the rbl10 mutant and the slow turnover of radiolabeled PA in isolated chloroplasts fed with [14C] acetate. Interestingly, the impaired PA turnover in rbl10 was partially reversed in the acp4 rbl10 double mutant. Collectively, this study shows that ACP4 and RBL10 affect chloroplast lipid biosynthesis by modulating substrate precursor pools and appear to act independently. 

Yeast, molds and other fungi are found in most environments across the world. Many of the fungi that live on land today form relationships called symbioses with other microbes. Some of these relationships, like those formed with green algae, are beneficial and involve the exchange carbon, nitrogen and other important nutrients. Algae first evolved in the sea and it has been suggested that symbioses with fungi may have helped some algae to leave the water and to colonize the land more than 500 million years ago. A fungus called Mortierella elongata grows as a network of filaments in soils and produces large quantities of oils that have various industrial uses. While the details of Mortierella’s life in the wild are still not certain, the fungus is thought to survive by gaining nutrients from decaying matter and it is not known to form any symbioses with algae. In 2018, however, a team of researchers reported that, when M. elongata was grown in the laboratory with a marine alga known as Nannochloropsis oceanica, the two organisms appeared to form a symbiosis. Both the alga and fungus produce oil, and when grown together the two organisms produced more oil than when the fungus or algal cells were grown alone. However, it was not clear whether the fungus and alga actually benefit from the symbiosis, for example by exchanging nutrients and helping each other to resist stress. Du et al. – including many of the researchers involved in the earlier work – have now used biochemical techniques to study this relationship in more detail. The experiments found that there was a net flow of carbon from algal cells to the fungus, and a net flow of nitrogen in the opposite direction. When nutrients were scarce, algae and fungi grown in the same containers grew better than algae and fungi grown separately. Further, Mortierella only obtained carbon from living algae that attached to the fungal filaments and not from dead algae. Unexpectedly, further experiments found that when grown together over a period of several weeks or more some of the algal cells entered and lived within the filaments of the fungus. Previously, no algae had ever been seen to inhabit the living filaments of a fungus. These findings may help researchers to develop improved methods to produce oil from M. elongata and N. oceanica. Furthermore, this partnership provides a convenient new system to study how one organism can live within another and to understand how symbioses between algae and fungi may have first evolved.