Investigating Mitochondrial Genome Dynamics in Plants

研究植物线粒体基因组动力学

• 批准号: 0090813
• 负责人: Sally Mackenzie
• 金额: $ 20万
• 依托单位: University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-04-01 至 2003-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0090813&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Investigating; Mitochondrial; Genome; Dynamics; Plants

The plant mitochondrion represents a wonderfully multifarious and dynamic cellular compartment that directs processes associated with energy metabolism, cell stress responses, several biosynthetic functions, and ultimately programmed cell death. In higher plants, the genetic information contained within the mitochondrial compartment is organized in a multipartite, highly redundant configuration such that relative copy number of various DNA molecules can vary dramatically. The process of copy number shifting within the plant mitochondrial genome is the subject of this project. Experimental approaches are directed at determining the differences in the organization of mitochondrial genetic information that is inherited and mitochondrial genetic information that is contained in the vegetative tissues of the developing plant. Likewise, investigations are focused on the nature of the genome structure that allows dramatic copy number changes to occur. Because this laboratory has already cloned a nuclear gene that directs the copy number shifting phenomena in plant mitochondria, CHM, it should be possible to deduce the role of this gene by characterizing mitochondrial genome shifting processes. This research is likely to have implications not only for the manipulation of the mitochondrial genome in crop improvement and hybrid seed production, but also in deducing processes involved in mitochondrial inheritance, an area of great interest in human genetics as well.

植物线粒体代表着一个极其多样和动态的细胞室，它指导着与能量代谢、细胞应激反应、几种生物合成功能以及最终的细胞程序性死亡相关的过程。在高等植物中，线粒体隔间中包含的遗传信息是以多部分、高度冗余的配置进行组织的，因此各种DNA分子的相对拷贝数可能会有很大差异。植物线粒体基因组中拷贝数转移的过程是这个项目的主题。实验方法旨在确定遗传的线粒体遗传信息和发育中的植物营养组织中包含的线粒体遗传信息的组织结构的差异。同样，研究的重点是基因组结构的本质，这种结构允许发生戏剧性的拷贝数变化。由于本实验室已经克隆了指导植物线粒体拷贝数转移现象的核基因CHM，因此应该可以通过表征线粒体基因组转移过程来推断该基因的作用。这项研究可能不仅对在作物改良和杂交种子生产中操纵线粒体基因组有意义，而且对推断线粒体遗传过程也有意义，线粒体遗传也是人类遗传学中的一个重要领域。