Genomics-Enabled Plant Biology for Determination of Gene Function | DE FOA 0002601

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002601

The Genomics-Enabled Plant Biology for Determination of Gene Function funding opportunity (DOE Office of Science, DE-FOA-0002601) is aimed at closing a major gap in modern plant research: the ability to move from large-scale "omics" data to clear, experimentally supported gene function. The program is framed around the growing need for crop and crop-like plants that can thrive on marginal or non-traditional agricultural lands and still produce useful biomass or biochemical feedstocks. These kinds of resilient plants are positioned as important contributors to the emerging bioeconomy, especially for renewable fuels and chemicals, but improving them requires a much more reliable understanding of how plant genes and pathways actually drive traits in real environments.

A central point of the FOA is that plant scientists can now generate huge datasets using genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and related approaches, and can apply computational and systems biology tools to infer networks and regulatory relationships. The problem, as the FOA describes it, is that many of these insights remain correlational. In other words, they can suggest that a gene is associated with a trait or that a pathway is likely involved, but they often do not prove causality. This limitation is especially pronounced in plants because of biological and evolutionary complexity, including frequent segmental and whole-genome duplications (which create gene families with overlapping or partially redundant functions), differences in reproductive biology, and the confounding effects of domestication. As a result, directly validating gene function experimentally remains slow and difficult, and that validation bottleneck prevents the research community from fully capitalizing on the pace of data generation.

The FOA focuses on developing and applying more efficient, higher-throughput experimental and systems-level approaches that can assign and validate gene function at scale. The emphasis is on bridging genotype to phenotype in plant systems that matter to DOE Biological and Environmental Research (BER) priorities in energy and the environment. Rather than simply producing more datasets or more computational predictions, the program is looking for approaches that can generate verifiable functional knowledge, ideally by combining multi-omics information with targeted perturbations, scalable functional assays, and integrative modeling that can be tested experimentally. The underlying theme is that experimental strategies need to evolve so they can keep up with omics technologies, even if they cannot match them one-for-one in throughput, and that concentrated innovation is needed to map the "genomics space" in a way that is actually usable for prediction and engineering.

In terms of scientific scope, DOE is especially interested in gene functions, gene families, and pathways connected to plant physiological and metabolic traits with direct relevance to energy and environmental outcomes. The FOA highlights several example areas: mechanisms tied to CO2 sequestration and below-ground carbon storage; nutrient and water use efficiency; tolerance or resistance to abiotic stressors such as drought and temperature extremes; developmental programs that control biomass yield, growth optimization, and expansion of growth range; and metabolic pathways involving oils and fatty acids that are important for biofuels and bioproducts. These topic areas signal that the program is not limited to basic discovery in model species, but is intended to support knowledge that can translate into improved performance and predictability in plants relevant to sustainable bioenergy and climate-related goals, including non-model organisms.

Eligibility is broadly open to domestic applicants, with an explicit exclusion for 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations that engaged in lobbying activities after December 31, 1995. Federal entities have special rules: DOE/NNSA National Laboratories cannot apply as prime recipients but may participate as subrecipients under another organization, with funding ultimately routed through DOE mechanisms (such as the Field-Work Proposal System) and performed under the lab's DOE contract rather than under the FOA award terms. Similarly, non-DOE/NNSA FFRDCs and other Federal Agencies cannot apply as prime applicants but may be included as subrecipients, typically funded via interagency agreements and subject to required authorizations described in the FOA.

Administratively, the opportunity is a discretionary grant in the Science and Technology / Research and Development category (CFDA 81.049), issued by the DOE Office of Science. The FOA lists an award ceiling of $1,000,000 and an original application closing date of March 25, 2022, with a creation date of December 16, 2021. Overall, the program is best understood as an effort to turn the current flood of plant omics data into experimentally grounded, mechanistic gene-function knowledge that can accelerate trait improvement for bioenergy- and environment-relevant plant systems.

• The Office of Science in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Genomics-Enabled Plant Biology for Determination of Gene Function" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.049.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-12-16.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-03-25. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,000,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for DE FOA 0002601

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