Molecular Genetic Analysis of Shoot Apical Meristem Development in Arabidopsis thaliana

拟南芥茎尖分生组织发育的分子遗传学分析

• 批准号: 0080853
• 负责人: M. Kathryn Barton
• 金额: $ 33万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2000
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2000-08-01 至 2001-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0080853&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Molecular; Genetic; Analysis; Shoot; Apical

0080853BartonThe Earth's primary producers, plants and algae, capture sunlight and use it to make the biomass that all other organisms on the planet use to survive. Much of plant growth occurs at the tips of branches, where regions of undifferentiated, dividing cells, called meristems, are located. The shoot meristems produce new leaves, stems and flowers. Dr. Kathryn Barton's lab studies how shoot meristems work. Using the small weed Arabidopsis as a model system, her lab studies the genes and proteins that direct meristem function. The work in this proposal focuses on regulation of the SHOOT MERISTEMLESS (STM) gene product of Arabidopsis. When the STM protein is lacking, the plant is not able to make a meristem, and conversely, when the STM protein is supplied in excess, the plant produces a mass of meristems that covers the leaves and results in a highly deformed plant. From these observations it follows that the STM gene must be carefully regulated. The BOBBER gene is required to prevent the expression of STM in the seed leaves; in bobber mutants, the seed leaves inappropriately express STM. bobber mutants also arrest growth during embryogenesis. To understand the mechanism of STM regulation by BOBBER, the BOBBER gene will be molecularly cloned and characterized. bobber mutant embryos will be carefully analyzed to determine the extent to which they are defective in the development of cotyledons and shoot apical meristem. The role of BOBBER in repressing STM in leaves will also be determined and the cis-acting sequences through which BOBBER acts will be defined. These, and other experiments, are leading to improvements in our understanding of basic plant biology, information that will ultimately improve the way in which we manage our crops, woodlands and other natural resources.

Barton地球的主要生产者，植物和藻类，捕捉阳光，并用它来制造地球上所有其他生物赖以生存的生物量。大部分植物的生长发生在枝尖，那里有未分化的分裂细胞的区域，称为分生组织。嫩枝分生组织产生新的叶、茎和花。凯瑟琳·巴顿博士的实验室研究了芽分生组织是如何工作的。以小杂草拟南芥为模型系统，她的实验室研究了指导分生组织功能的基因和蛋白质。本研究的工作集中在拟南芥茎段无分生组织(STM)基因产物的调控上。当缺乏STM蛋白时，植物不能形成分生组织，相反，当STM蛋白供应过量时，植物产生大量覆盖叶片的分生组织，导致植株高度变形。从这些观察中可以得出结论，STM基因必须受到仔细的调控。Bobber基因是防止STM在种子叶片中表达所必需的；在bobber突变体中，种子叶片不适当地表达STM。波波突变体也会在胚胎发育过程中阻止生长。为了了解bobber对STM的调控机制，我们将对bobber基因进行分子克隆和鉴定。将仔细分析bobber突变胚胎，以确定它们在子叶和新梢顶端分生组织发育中的缺陷程度。还将确定bobber在抑制叶片中STM中的作用，并定义bobber起作用的顺式作用序列。这些实验和其他实验正在提高我们对基本植物生物学的理解，这些信息最终将改善我们管理农作物、林地和其他自然资源的方式。