MRI: Acquisition of a Tandem MS for Plant Cellular & Subcellular Metabolic Studies

MRI：获取用于植物细胞的串联 MS

• 批准号: 1427621
• 负责人: Bradley Evans
• 金额: $ 45.74万
• 依托单位: Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-09-01 至 2018-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1427621&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Acquisition; Tandem; MS; Plant

An award is made to the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center to purchase a tandem mass spectrometer for plant cellular and subcellular metabolic studies. The investment in mass spectrometry technology and method development at the Danforth Center benefits integrated studies of plant metabolism and provides guiding protocols for the greater scientific community. The projects supported by this new instrumentation aim to increase productivity of food and biofuel crops through a detailed understanding of how plants turn energy provided by the sun to biomass and how plants sense and respond to their environment and attack by pathogens. As part of the development of new technologies, PI Bradley Evans and Co-PI Doug Allen will perform a special study with young investigators from Harris-Stowe State University to probe the new instrument's capability to analyze difficult samples. This will add to the educational outreach taking place at the Danforth Center. Currently, the training of tomorrow's scientists occurs through an active NSF-REU program, recruitment of high school students that work in Danforth Center laboratories for classroom credit, participation in a regional program for high school students - STARS (Students and Teachers As Research Scientists), workshops for teachers and an interactive middle- and high school mentoring program that connects our scientists with nearby schools. These programs are essential to core Danforth Center mission goals to strengthen the plant science community.The long term goal is to improve plant productivity that: i) proficiently feeds a growing world population, ii) provides sustainable feed-stock alternatives to petroleum and iii) supplies useful bioactive compounds; all designed to improve quality of life. Advanced tandem mass spectrometry instrumentation is needed to investigate metabolites present at very low and dynamic levels and segregated to specific cells and organelles. A major impediment to understanding biochemical function in plants is our incomplete characterization of metabolism. Plant metabolism is a very dynamic process and operates in tiny compartments and low amounts of material. Thus it is the fine architecture and dynamic metabolic events throughout plant life that define function, fitness, agricultural yield and allow plants to respond to changing environments and stresses. These activities are, however, not quantitatively understood and incomplete metabolic characterization prevents elucidation of biochemical pathways and gene and protein functions, thereby precluding successful applications in biotechnology. Sensitive mass spectrometers that are capable of analyzing minute concentrations have the potential to transform understanding in many aspects of plant function. Research efforts on NSF-funded and other projects at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and surrounding community are advancing science through methods development on scantly present metabolites and will be greatly extended by this technology.

唐纳德·丹福思植物科学中心获得一项奖励，购买一台串联质谱仪，用于植物细胞和亚细胞代谢研究。丹福思中心对质谱技术和方法开发的投资有利于植物代谢的综合研究，并为更大的科学界提供指导协议。由这种新仪器支持的项目旨在通过详细了解植物如何将太阳提供的能量转化为生物质以及植物如何感知和应对环境和病原体的攻击来提高粮食和生物燃料作物的生产力。作为新技术开发的一部分，PI布拉德利埃文斯和共同PI道格艾伦将与来自哈里斯-斯托州立大学的年轻研究人员进行一项特别研究，以探索新仪器分析困难样品的能力。这将增加在丹佛斯中心进行的教育推广。目前，通过积极的NSF-REU计划，招募在丹佛斯中心实验室工作的高中生获得课堂学分，参加高中生区域计划- STARS（学生和教师作为研究科学家），教师研讨会和互动式初中和高中指导计划，将我们的科学家与附近的学校联系起来。这些项目对于丹佛斯中心加强植物科学界的核心使命目标是必不可少的。长期目标是提高植物生产力，i）熟练地养活不断增长的世界人口，ii）提供可持续的石油原料替代品，iii）提供有用的生物活性化合物;所有这些都旨在提高生活质量。需要先进的串联质谱仪器来研究以非常低和动态水平存在并分离到特定细胞和细胞器的代谢物。理解植物生化功能的一个主要障碍是我们对代谢的不完整描述。植物新陈代谢是一个非常动态的过程，在微小的隔间和少量的物质中运作。因此，正是植物生命中的精细结构和动态代谢事件定义了功能，健身，农业产量，并允许植物对不断变化的环境和压力做出反应。然而，这些活动是没有定量的理解和不完整的代谢特性，防止生化途径和基因和蛋白质功能的阐明，从而排除了在生物技术中的成功应用。能够分析微小浓度的灵敏质谱仪有可能改变对植物功能许多方面的理解。在唐纳德·丹福斯植物科学中心和周围社区的NSF资助和其他项目的研究工作正在通过对很少存在的代谢物的方法开发来推进科学，并将通过这项技术大大扩展。