Autophagy and ER stress in plants

提案号IOS- 1353867，植物的自噬和内质网胁迫。对环境条件变化的耐受性对植物的生长和生存至关重要，因为它们无法躲避环境。一个关键的未解决的问题是植物如何调整它们的细胞功能来应对诸如高温和干旱等应激条件。胁迫耐受需要两条途径，一是自噬，其中受损的细胞成分被分解和再循环；二是未折叠的蛋白质反应，其中错误折叠的蛋白质激活减轻应激损伤的基因表达。在这个项目中，这两种途径之间的关系将被检查。通过生物化学、细胞生物学和遗传方法的结合，我们将鉴定出这两种途径所需的其他蛋白质，并分析它们的功能。细胞选择底物进行自噬循环的机制也将被确定。这将有助于了解植物如何感知不利的环境条件，如何激活应激反应途径，以及不同的反应如何共同产生耐受性。该项目的研究结果可为培育具有重要农业价值的耐胁迫植物品种提供参考。该项目将为研究生和本科生提供植物遗传学、细胞和分子生物学方面的研究培训。此外，研究结果将被纳入Meta！Blast教育视频游戏帮助大学生和高中生学习细胞生物学。在研究过程中产生的种子储备和质粒将捐赠给拟南芥生物资源中心，供科学界使用。

Diane C BasshamProposal number IOS- 1353867, Autophagy and ER stress in plants.Tolerance of changing environmental conditions is critical for plant growth and survival as they are unable to seek refuge from the environment. A key unresolved issue is how plants adapt their cellular functions to respond to stress conditions such as heat and drought. Two pathways required for stress tolerance are autophagy, in which damaged cell components are broken down and recycled, and the unfolded protein response, in which misfolded proteins activate the expression of genes that mitigate stress damage. In this project, the relationship between these two pathways will be examined. Additional proteins that are required for the regulation of both of these pathways will be identified and their functions analyzed by a combination of biochemical, cell biology and genetic approaches. The mechanism by which cells select substrates for recycling by autophagy will also be determined. This will provide insight into how plants sense adverse environmental conditions, how stress response pathways are then activated and how different responses work together to produce stress tolerance. The results of this project could provide information leading to the production of stress tolerant varieties of agriculturally important plants. The project will provide research training in plant genetics, cell and molecular biology for graduate and undergraduate students. In addition, the results of the research will be incorporated into a module of the Meta!Blast educational video game to help undergraduate and high school students learn cell biology. Seed stocks and plasmids generated in the course of the research will be donated to the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center for distribution to the scientific community.