Wound-Evoked Changes in Transcription: The Role of Electrical Signals

9310508 Davies植物面临着潜在的有害环境因素，如虫害、干旱、高温、低温和紫外线照射。 他们已经进化出适应的策略，从而能够感知和应对这些刺激，而不会导致死亡。 这些策略需要综合机制，其中植物的一部分经历的压力条件引起远处部分的反应。 其中一些反应需要非常迅速，因此涉及可扩散化学品（激素）的制造和运输的传统解释可能是不够的。 这一提议基于我们最近在向日葵和番茄中描述的两种类型的快速产生和传递的信号：动作电位（AP），它是由电压敏感的（电压门控）离子通道;和变异电位（VP），基于压力敏感的（拉伸激活的）离子通道，并且由靠近木质部的细胞和组织的水力条件的快速变化引起。 在这里提出的研究中，我们将进行治疗，以选择性地唤起或抑制这些电信号中的一个或两个，以确定它们在调节各种基因表达（上调和下调）中的作用。 ***

9310508 Davies Plants are confronted with potentially harmful environmental factors such as insect attack, drought, heat, cold and UV irradiation. They have evolved strategies of accommodation, whereby they can perceive and respond to such stimuli without them resulting in death. These strategies require integrated mechanisms where stressful conditions experienced by one part of the plant elicit responses in distant parts. Some of these responses need to be extremely rapid, and thus conventional explanations involving manufacture and transport of diffusible chemicals (hormones) may not be sufficient. This proposal fcuses on two types of rapidly-generated and transmitted signals which we have described recently in both sunflower and tomato: action potentials (APs), which result from the activity of voltage-sensitive (voltage-gated) ion channels; and variation potentials (VPs), which are based on pressure-sensitive (stretch-activated) ion channels and result from rapid changes in the hydraulic condition of cells and tissues in proximity to the xylem. In the research proposed here, we will perform treatments to selectively evoke or repress either or both of these electrical signals in order to determine their role in modulating the expression (up-regulation and down-regulation) of various genes. ***