Interacting Partners of the SUNN Symbiotic Regulatory Kinase

两种生物之间的共生关系消耗了每个生物的资源，以换取它们从这种关系中获得的利益；因此，它们受到双方的严格监管。在豆科植物M. truncatula与其细菌伙伴之间的关系中，形成共生固氮根瘤数量的主要植物调节剂是一种称为SUNN的蛋白质。SUNN系统地（在整个植物中）调节相互作用，因此必须通过尚未确定的其他蛋白质进行交流调节。这个项目通过创建一个工具来回答这个问题，解决了哪些蛋白质与SUNN相互作用的问题。研究人员将培育一种携带SUNN的植物，这种植物带有一个标签，可以从整个植物中检索SUNN和相互作用的蛋白质进行分析。该标签是一段短的蛋白质片段，商业抗体可用，允许研究人员通过标准技术分离SUNN，然后识别相互作用的伙伴蛋白。研究人员将通过一种称为互补的遗传技术证明这种标记的蛋白质的行为与正常版本的SUNN相似，在这种技术中，将标记的SUNN放置在没有SUNN蛋白质的突变植物中，使突变植物恢复正常。由于豆类占人类蛋白质摄入量的33%，是动物饲料和饲料的重要来源，也是食用油和工业用油的来源，了解调节豆类共生所涉及的信号将使科学家能够制定策略，在长期保护环境的同时保持土壤质量和可持续性，降低食品和生物燃料生产的成本。本科生，包括代表性不足的群体的成员，将作为该项目的一部分接受培训，并将通过现有项目每年招收。

Symbiotic associations between two organisms cost each organism resources in exchange for the benefits they receive from the association; thus they are tightly regulated by both partners. In the case of the relationship between the legume plant M. truncatula and its bacterial partner, a major plant regulator of the number of symbiotic nitrogen-fixing nodules that form is a protein called SUNN. SUNN regulates the interaction systemically (throughout the plant) and thus must communicate regulation through other proteins not yet identified. This project addresses the question of what proteins interact with SUNN by taking the critical first step of creating a tool to answer the question. The investigators will create a plant carrying a version of SUNN with a tag to allow retrieval of SUNN and interacting proteins from whole plants for analysis. The tag is a short piece of protein for which commercial antibodies are available, allowing the investigators to isolate SUNN through standard techniques and then identify the interacting partner proteins. The investigators will prove that this tagged protein behaves like the normal version of SUNN by a genetic technique called complementation, in which the tagged SUNN placed in a mutant plant with no SUNN protein restores the mutant plant to normality. Because legumes contribute to 33% of humankind's protein intake and serve as an important source of fodder and forage for animals as well as a source of edible and industrial oils, understanding the signaling involved in regulating legume symbiosis will allow scientists to develop strategies to maintain soil quality and sustainability while protecting the environment over the long term, reducing costs for food and biofuel production. Undergraduate students, including members of under-represented groups, will be trained as part of this project, and will be recruited every year through existing programs.