Functional Analysis of Metacaspases in Plant Development and Cell Death.

细胞程序性死亡（PCD）是从酵母、植物到动物的所有真核生物都存在的一个基本过程。 在动物细胞凋亡（PCD的一种特殊形式）中，核心死亡引擎是高度保守的，其中称为半胱氨酸蛋白酶的专门半胱氨酸蛋白酶家族作为确定的执行者。 然而，在植物和酵母中，典型的半胱氨酸天冬氨酸蛋白酶不存在于测序的基因组中，而是通过基于结构的迭代数据库搜索鉴定了一个称为metacaspase的远亲半胱氨酸蛋白酶家族。 在这个拟议的项目中，选择metacaspase基因在模式植物拟南芥（小鼠耳水芹）的功能将通过详细的遗传，分子，细胞生物学和生化分析。 具体来说，研究人员的目的是揭示一些上游调控和下游目标的metacaspases。 因此，这项工作将提供一个全面了解的调控途径，涉及metacaspases和高等植物细胞死亡调控的基础。与动物半胱天冬酶相关研究的比较将为理解高等真核生物PCD的进化提供一个更好的框架。 在更广泛的背景下，这项研究应该有助于我们了解植物对生物和非生物胁迫的反应，因为PCD往往与这些条件有关，从而为未来的作物改良提供重要的知识。该项目也将在为博士后研究人员提供多元化，跨学科的培训方面产生更广泛的影响。 此外，调查人员还将通过道格拉斯女性科学和乔治H。罗格斯大学的库克学者项目和高中的RISE夏季研究项目。

Programmed cell death (PCD) is recognized to be a fundamental process found in all eukaryotes ranging from yeasts, plants and animals. In animal apoptosis, a specialized form of PCD, the core death engine is highly conserved with a family of specialized cysteine proteases called caspases as the determinate executioner. In plants and yeasts, however, canonical caspases are absent from sequenced genomes and instead, a family of distantly related cysteine proteases called metacaspases were identified through structure-based iterative database searches. In this proposed project, the function of selected metacaspase genes in the model plant Arabidopsis (mouse-ear cress) will be studied through detailed genetic, molecular, cell biological and biochemical analyses. Specifically, the investigator aims to uncover some of the upstream regulators and downstream targets of metacaspases. This proposed work will thus provide the foundation for a comprehensive understanding of the regulatory pathways involving metacaspases and cell death regulation in higher plants. Comparison to related studies with animal caspases will provide a better framework for understanding the evolution of PCD in higher eukaryotes. In a broader context, this study should contribute to our understanding of plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses since PCD is often associated with these conditions, and thus provide important knowledge for future crop improvement. This project will also have broader impact in providing a diversified, interdisciplinary training to postdoctoral researchers. In addition, the investigators will also provide research experience for undergraduate, graduate and high school students through the Douglass Women in Science and George H. Cook Scholar programs of Rutgers University, and the RISE summer research program for high schools.