A combined biochemical, molecular and computational approach to understanding the regulation of gibberellin biosynthesis in Arabidopsis

该奖项由2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公共法律111-5)资助。Valerie M.Sponsel(PI)，Jianhua Ruan(Co-Pi)，Garry Sunter(Co-Pi)。建议编号IOS-0848135A结合生化、分子和计算方法来了解拟南芥赤霉素生物合成的调节。植物激素的赤霉素组调节植物生命周期的许多阶段，从种子萌发到开花和果实发育。在特定发育阶段的特定细胞或组织中存在的生物活性赤霉素的数量受到精细的调控，并将决定植物的生长和发育是否最佳。为了理解建立赤霉素稳态的分子机制，有必要确定调节赤霉素代谢和信号转导的因素。该项目汇集了三位具有植物生理学、分子生物学和生物信息学背景的科学家，以研究模式植物拟南芥赤霉素生物合成途径中编码酶的基因的转录调控。它集中在依赖2-氧戊二酸的双加氧酶是如何被内部因素调节的，包括赤霉素(代谢调节)和其他植物激素，如生长素。其中一些酶的转录调控似乎是以分级的方式设置的，本研究的前提是阐明这种调控的应用方式将有助于理解赤霉素的动态平衡。将对启动子序列和公开可用的大规模微阵列数据进行综合计算分析，以确定具有共同调控(时间、空间、反馈、生长素等)的2-氧戊二酸依赖的双加氧酶是否共享特定基序，并使用这些基序构建转录调控的定量预测模型。然后，有人建议测试这些基序是否定义了负责拟南芥幼苗转录活动的时间、位置和激素调节的顺式调节元件。这项跨学科研究将在德克萨斯大学圣安东尼奥分校进行，这是一所服务于拉美裔、以本科生为主的机构，有75%的第一代学生。它将计算机科学和生物系的学生聚集在一起，并将培训传统上在科学和技术领域代表性较低的群体的学生。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Valerie M. Sponsel (PI), Jianhua Ruan (Co-PI), Garry Sunter (Co-PI).Proposal number IOS-0848135A combined biochemical, molecular and computational approach to understanding the regulation of gibberellin biosynthesis in Arabidopsis.The gibberellin group of plant hormones regulate many phases of a plant's life cycle from seed germination to flowering and fruit development. The amount of bioactive gibberellin that is present in particular cells, or tissues, at specific stages of development is finely regulated, and will determine whether plant growth and development are optimal. Defining the factors that regulate gibberellin metabolism and signaling is necessary in order to understand the molecular mechanisms that establish gibberellin homeostasis. The project brings together three scientists with backgrounds in plant physiology, molecular biology and bioinformatics to examine the transcriptional regulation of genes encoding enzymes in the gibberellin biosynthetic pathway in the model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana. It focuses on how 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase enzymes are regulated by internal factors including gibberellins (metabolic regulation) and other plant hormones, such as auxin. Transcriptional regulation of some of these enzymes appears to be set in place in a hierarchical manner, and the premise of this research is that elucidating the means whereby this regulation is applied will be instrumental in understanding gibberellin homeostasis. Integrated computational analysis of promoter sequences and of publicly-available large-scale microarray data will be performed to determine if particular motifs are shared between 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases that have common regulation (temporal, spatial, feed-back, auxin etc), and to construct quantitative, predictive models of transcriptional regulation using those motifs. It is then proposed to test whether these motifs define cis-regulatory elements that are responsible for timing, location and hormonal regulation of transcriptional activity in Arabidopsis seedlings. The interdisciplinary research will be conducted at the University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic-serving, predominantly undergraduate institution with 75% first generation students. It brings together students from the Computer Science and Biology Departments and will train students from groups traditionally underrepresented in science and technology.