Tonoplast Protein Trafficking in Arabidopsis

液泡是植物中一种重要的细胞器，对人类健康有重要意义。事实上，我们饮食中的一个重要部分，包括豆类和玉米中发现的必需氨基酸，都来自于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压的维持是重要的。为了提高植物的抗逆性，并最终提高植物的营养价值，供人类消费，这是至关重要的，我们了解如何调节液泡膜生物合成。这项研究的长期目标是确定和表征液泡膜蛋白的运输机制。将利用遗传、生物化学和细胞生物学方法的综合策略来鉴定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）鉴定在膜蛋白靶向中受损的突变体。2)识别诱导液泡膜蛋白错误定位的小抑制剂。突变体和抑制剂都将解偶联膜蛋白到液泡的不同靶向途径。这项研究将对理解液泡生物发生和提高植物液泡含量的能力产生重大影响，该项目的更广泛影响包括对少数民族本科生和研究生进行分子生物学和显微镜技术方面的培训。此外，一名教师和少数民族高中学生从威克县公立学校系统将从事作为本研究计划的一部分。

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.