Functional Characterization of the Arabidopsis Thaliana ARG1 Gene Involved in Gravity Signal Transduction

威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的帕特里克·H·马森博士获得了一项资助，用于研究与向重力性有关的蛋白质。向重力性是一种允许植物器官利用重力作为生长指南的生理过程。在大多数植物中，向重力性决定了地上部分向上生长，而根向下生长到土壤中。它可以让嫩芽接触到光线，根可以吸收水分和矿物质离子。不幸的是，人们对这种复杂的生理反应背后的分子机制知之甚少。马森博士的团队已经确定并确定了模式植物拟南芥向重力性所必需的一组蛋白质的特征。这些蛋白在结构上与所有生物体中发现的伴侣蛋白的一个亚群有关，这些蛋白参与了特定细胞和发育过程中蛋白质复合体的折叠、运输和组装，以及对环境刺激的反应。利用分子遗传学和生物化学方法，Masson的研究小组将确定受这些分子伴侣影响的蛋白质的特征，并确定它们在重力信号转导中的作用。这些研究将加深我们对特定分子伴侣调节植物重力信号转导的分子机制的理解。反过来，这些信息可能会对我们理解这类分子在其他系统中所起的作用产生深远的影响，比如哺乳动物。从长远来看，该项目还可能导致重要的农业应用。事实上，向重力主义对农业生产有重要影响。例如，由于风力或暴雨(倒伏)导致植物倒伏，农业每年都会遭受巨大的生产损失。从长远来看，更好地理解控制向重力性的分子机制可能会提供必要的信息和工具，以改进旨在减少倒伏的农业实践，或者改造更好地抵御风雨的植物。最后，这个项目将有一个重要的教育组成部分，因为它将涉及一名博士后研究员的培训，由研究生、本科生和高中生协助。

A grant has been awarded to Dr. Patrick H. Masson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to characterize proteins involved in gravitropism, a physiological process that allows plant organs to use gravity as a growth guide. In most plants, gravitropism dictates upward shoot growth above ground, and downward root growth into the soil. It allows shoots to reach light, and roots to take up water and mineral ions. Unfortunately, very little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying this complex physiological response. Dr. Masson's group has identified and characterized a group of proteins that are essential for gravitropism in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. These proteins are structurally related to a subgroup of chaperone proteins found in all organisms, which have been implicated in the folding, trafficking and assembly of protein complexes involved in specific cellular and developmental processes, as well as in responses to environmental stimuli. Using molecular genetic and biochemical procedures, Masson's research team will characterize proteins that are affected by these chaperones, and define their roles in gravity signal transduction.These studies will enhance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms that allow specific molecular chaperones to modulate gravity signal transduction in plants. In turn, this information may have profound implications for our understanding of the role played by such molecules in other systems, such as mammals. This project may also result in important agricultural applications in the long term. Indeed, gravitropism has important consequences for agricultural productions. For instance, agriculture encounters large production losses every year, due to plant prostration by wind or heavy rains (lodging). A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms that govern gravitropism may, in the long term, provide the information and tools needed to improve agricultural practices aimed at reducing lodging, or engineer plants that better resist to wind and rain. Finally, this project will have an important educational component to it, as it will involve the training of a postdoctoral fellow, assisted by graduate, undergraduate and high school students.