Epigenetic Control of a Maize Anthocyanin Regulatory Gene

玉米花青素调节基因的表观遗传控制

• 批准号: 0549447
• 负责人: Candace Galen
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Missouri-Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-04-01 至 2010-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0549447&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Epigenetic; Control; Maize; Anthocyanin; Regulatory

The cells of every higher organism, whether plant or animal, face the problem of how to fit all their DNA into the nucleus while still allowing the genes to be accessible to the RNA synthesis machinery needed to turn those genes on at proper times in development. The universal solution to this dilemma is to wind the DNA around proteins to form a DNA-protein complex called chromatin. Genes in loosely wound chromatin are accessible to RNA synthesis machinery and are actively expressed, whereas genes in tightly wound chromatin are less accessible and are inactive. Winding is reversibly controlled by chemical alterations to the DNA or the proteins that make up the chromatin. Understanding how these chemical changes are regulated is the focus of this project. Experiments are aimed at analyzing the expression of the maize gene, Pl-Blotched, which controls the synthesis of purple pigments. Pl-Blotched plants have a variegated pattern of pigmentation that is associated with more tightly wound chromatin than usual and a unique pattern of chemical alteration to the Pl-Blotched DNA. To understand how these chromatin features are controlled, mutants with altered pigmentation have been isolated. To study how these mutants control the expression of Pl-Blotched, experiments will be conducted to determine what specific changes they induce in the DNA or proteins of Pl-Blotched chromatin. The results of these studies will contribute to our understanding of how gene expression can be controlled by chromatin in a diverse array of organisms that use chromatin-based mechanisms for regulating genes during growth and development. This project will be carried out by graduate and undergraduate students and will thus provide the students with strong training in genetics and genomics, with particular emphasis on teamwork and collaboration.

每一个高等有机体的细胞，无论是植物还是动物，都面临着一个问题，即如何将它们所有的DNA装入细胞核，同时仍然允许基因进入RNA合成机制，这是在发育的适当时间启动这些基因所需的。解决这一难题的普遍方法是将DNA缠绕在蛋白质周围，形成一种名为染色质的DNA-蛋白质复合体。松散缠绕的染色质中的基因可通过RNA合成机制获得并活跃表达，而紧密缠绕的染色质中的基因较难获得且不活跃。缠绕是由DNA或组成染色质的蛋白质的化学变化可逆控制的。了解这些化学变化是如何受到调控的是这个项目的重点。实验的目的是分析控制紫色色素合成的玉米基因Pl-Blotcher的表达。PL-Blotted植物具有五颜六色的色素沉着，这与比平时更紧密缠绕的染色质有关，以及对PL-Blotted DNA的独特化学改变模式。为了了解这些染色质特征是如何被控制的，我们已经分离出了色素改变的突变体。为了研究这些突变体如何控制Pl-Blotted的表达，将进行实验，以确定它们在Pl-Blotted染色质的DNA或蛋白质中诱导了哪些特定的变化。这些研究的结果将有助于我们理解染色质如何在各种生物中控制基因表达，这些生物使用基于染色质的机制来调节生长和发育过程中的基因。该项目将由研究生和本科生进行，因此将为学生提供强有力的遗传学和基因组学培训，特别强调团队合作和合作。