Tonoplast Protein Trafficking in Arabidopsis

拟南芥中的液泡膜蛋白运输

• 批准号: 0951616
• 负责人: Marcela Pierce
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: North Carolina State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-02-15 至 2012-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0951616&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Tonoplast; Protein; Trafficking; Arabidopsis

The vacuole is an essential organelle in plants and has major implications for human health. In fact, an important portion of our diet, including the essential amino acids found in beans and corn, comes from molecules stored in the vacuole. The integrity of the vacuolar membrane is important for the storage of metabolites and hormones, the sequestration of ions and the maintenance of cellular turgor. To improve plant stress tolerance and ultimately increase the nutritional value of plants for human consumption, it is essential that we understand how to regulate vacuolar membrane biogenesis. The long-term goal of this research is to identify and characterize the trafficking machinery for vacuolar membrane proteins. An integrated strategy of genetic, biochemical and cell biological approaches will be utilized to identify and characterize mutations and chemical inhibitors that disrupt the trafficking of membrane proteins to the vacuole. The specific aims are to: 1) Identify mutants impaired in the targeting of membrane proteins. 2) Identify small inhibitors that induce mis-localization of vacuolar membrane proteins. Both mutants and inhibitors will uncouple the distinct targeting pathways of membrane proteins to the vacuole. This research will have a major impact in the understanding of vacuole biogenesis and the ability to improve plants with enhanced vacuolar content.The broader impacts of this project include the training of minority undergraduate and graduate students in state-of-the-art techniques in molecular biology and microscopy. In addition, a teacher and minority high-school students from the Wake County public schools system will be engaged as part of this research program.

液泡是植物中重要的细胞器，对人类健康具有重大影响。事实上，我们饮食的一个重要部分，包括豆类和玉米中发现的必需氨基酸，都来自储存在液泡中的分子。液泡膜的完整性对于代谢物和激素的储存、离子的隔离和细胞膨胀的维持非常重要。为了提高植物的胁迫耐受性并最终提高植物供人类食用的营养价值，我们必须了解如何调节液泡膜生物发生。这项研究的长期目标是识别和表征液泡膜蛋白的运输机制。将利用遗传、生化和细胞生物学方法的综合策略来识别和表征破坏膜蛋白向液泡运输的突变和化学抑制剂。具体目标是： 1) 识别膜蛋白靶向受损的突变体。 2) 识别诱导液泡膜蛋白错误定位的小抑制剂。突变体和抑制剂都会解开膜蛋白与液泡的不同靶向途径。这项研究将对液泡生物发生的理解以及提高液泡含量的植物的能力产生重大影响。该项目更广泛的影响包括对少数族裔本科生和研究生进行分子生物学和显微镜学最先进技术的培训。此外，来自威克县公立学校系统的一名教师和少数族裔高中生也将参与该研究计划。