Mechanism of Arabidopsis Pathogen Defense Regulation by the Novel TPR Protein SRFR1

像其他生物一样，植物也会不断地暴露在潜在的病原体中。然而，由于多层防御，大多数植物对大多数病原体具有抵抗力。当植物感知到病原体衍生的分子时，最有效的植物防御形式被触发。然而，这些有效的诱导型防御也有可能对植物产生不利影响，如果没有适当的控制。利用互补的生物化学，细胞生物学和遗传学方法，该项目旨在表征控制植物拟南芥中病原体防御激活的机制。具体来说，该项目将确定一种名为SRFR 1的蛋白质的功能。SRFR 1基因的鉴定是基于这样的事实，即该基因中的突变重新激活了对拟南芥植物系中的细菌病原体假单胞菌的特定菌株的有效诱导型防御，该拟南芥植物系通常对该病原体敏感。SRFR 1在植物和动物之间是保守的，并且被认为负控制基因的表达。SRFR 1的研究将为植物诱导防御过程中基因表达重编程过程的调控提供新的视角。该项目的广泛影响包括密苏里-哥伦比亚大学研究生和博士后研究人员的教育和培训，以及与韩国庆尚国立大学的研究生培训和研究国际合作。此外，当地高中学生将有机会设计和执行实验，以确定SRFR 1在植物胁迫反应中的其他功能。植物病原体防御反应的详细知识将能够提高作物植物中先天病原体防御的功效，对可持续农业和生物质生产以及环境具有重大益处。

Like other organisms, plants are continuously exposed to potential pathogens. Yet most plants are resistant to most pathogens because of multi-layered defenses. The most potent forms of plant defenses are triggered when the plant perceives pathogen-derived molecules. However, these potent inducible defenses also have the potential to adversely affect the plant if not properly kept in check. Using complementary biochemical, cell biological and genetic approaches, this project aims to characterize the machinery that controls the activation of pathogen defenses in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Specifically, the project will determine the function of a protein called SRFR1. The SRFR1 gene was identified based on the fact that mutations in this gene reactivate effective inducible defenses to a particular strain of the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae in an Arabidopsis plant line that is normally susceptible to this pathogen. SRFR1 is conserved between plants and animals and is thought to negatively control the expression of genes. Work on SRFR1 should therefore provide insight into the regulation of the gene expression reprogramming process that is known to occur during inducible plant defenses.The broader impacts of this project consist of the education and training of graduate students and post-doctoral researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and include an international collaboration for graduate student training and research with Gyeongsang National University in Korea. In addition, local high school students will have the opportunity to design and perform experiments to identify additional functions of SRFR1 in plant stress responses. Detailed knowledge of the plant pathogen defense response will enable improving the efficacy of innate pathogen defenses in crop plants, with significant benefits to sustainable agricultural and biomass production and the environment.