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.

每个较高生物体的细胞，无论是植物还是动物，都面临着如何将其所有DNA放入细胞核中的问题，同时仍允许将基因访问RNA合成机制，以便在发育中适当的时间打开这些基因。 这种困境的通用解决方案是将DNA缠绕在蛋白质周围，形成一种称为染色质的DNA蛋白质复合物。 RNA合成机制可访问松散的染色质基因，并积极表达，而紧密缠绕的染色质中的基因易于获取且无活性。 绕组通过对构成染色质的DNA或蛋白质的化学改变可以可逆地控制。 了解这些化学变化的调节是该项目的重点。实验旨在分析玉米基因的表达，即PL斑点，该基因控制紫色色素的合成。 PL吸收的植物具有多种色素沉着的模式，它与平常更紧密的染色质有关，并且对PL-clotched DNA的化学改变模式具有独特的化学模式。为了了解这些染色质特征是如何控制的，已经分离出具有改变色素沉着的突变体。为了研究这些突变体如何控制PL吸毒的表达，将进行实验，以确定它们在PL斑点染色质的DNA或蛋白质中诱导的特定变化。 这些研究的结果将有助于我们理解基因表达如何通过染色质控制在各种生物体中使用基于染色质的机制来调节生长和发育过程中基因的各种生物。该项目将由研究生和本科生进行，因此将为学生提供有关遗传学和基因组学的强有力培训，并特别着重于团队合作和协作。