Deciphering the role of RNA binding proteins in RNA transport, localization and post-transcriptional processes in plants

预计到2050年，世界人口将增加到90亿人以上，这就需要增加70%的粮食供应。只有提高主要农作物的产量，特别是谷物，才能实现这一目标，因为谷物以蛋白质和淀粉的形式满足了世界上相当一部分人口的大量营养需求。这项研究的结果将提供新的见解和创新的策略，通过操纵酶(促进化学反应的蛋白质)来提高作物产量，这些酶参与了储存在稻谷中的蛋白质和淀粉的生产的早期步骤。此外，该项目将为博士后、研究生和本科生提供分子、细胞和遗传方法方面的最先进的研究培训，特别是对蛋白质(蛋白质组学)和基因(基因组学)的大规模研究，包括来自合作的少数群体服务机构加州州立大学洛杉矶分校的学生。这项研究的成果将被整合到一个关于分子运动学(例如，RNA和蛋白质如何在植物细胞内移动到它们发挥功能的位置)的新网站上，这是一个在现代植物生物学教科书中描述很少的重要主题。尽管多年来已经产生了大量关于植物基因如何在转录和转录后水平上进行控制的信息，但关于RNA是如何运输和定位到植物细胞的特定亚室的，在那里它们被翻译、储存、加工或移交，人们知之甚少。这项研究将集中在水稻胚乳发育过程中RNA的运输和定位，目的是全面了解所涉及的RNA结合蛋白，它们是如何组织成多个RBP复合体的，以及可能是不同RNA运输途径的共同因素的RBPs如何为针对特定的个别途径的RNAs提供方向。该项目将使用全基因组方法来确定特定限制性商业惯例在将RNA运输和定位到皮质内质网中的作用，以及它们随后在翻译、稳定性和/或RNA加工中的作用。具体目标是：(1)将细胞质定位的、与细胞骨架相关的限制性商业惯例归类为多蛋白质复合体；(2)确定这些多蛋白质复合体结合的RNA的组成并确定相关的顺式序列；(3)确定特定限制性商业惯例的模块结构域的作用，这些功能区可能通过分析基因突变来指定特定的RNA运输途径。这些信息将为RNA的命运和它们在植物细胞中的位置提供一个前所未有的视角，从而填补我们在理解转录以外的基因表达步骤方面的一个主要空白。

The world population is projected to increase to over 9 billion people by 2050, necessitating a 70% increase in the food supply. Such a goal can only be accomplished by increasing the yields of the major crop plants, especially the cereals, whose grains meet substantial nutritional needs in the form of protein and starch for a significant portion of the world's population. Results from this research will provide new insights and innovative strategies to improve crop yields by manipulating the enzymes (proteins that facilitate chemical reactions) involved in the early steps of the production of the proteins and starch that are stored in rice grains. In addition, this project will provide state-of-the-art research training in molecular, cellular and genetic methods, especially large-scale studies of proteins (proteomics) and genes (genomics) for postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate students, including students from a partnering minority-serving institution, California State University at Los Angeles. Products of this research will be integrated into a new website on molecular kinesis (how for example RNA and proteins move within plant cells to the sites where they function) an important topic that is poorly described in modern plant biology textbooks.Although considerable information has been generated over the years on how plant genes are controlled at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels, very little is known about how RNAs are transported and localized to specific sub-compartments of the plant cell where they are translated, stored, processed or turned-over. This research will focus on the transport and localization of RNAs in developing rice endosperm with the aim of providing a comprehensive picture of the RNA binding proteins (RBPs) involved, how they are organized into multi-RBP complexes, and how RBPs that may be common factors of distinct RNA transport pathways may, nevertheless, provide the directions for targeting RNAs to particular individual pathways. This project will use genome-wide approaches to identify the role of specific RBPs in the transport and localization of RNAs to the cortical endoplasmic reticulum and their subsequent roles in translation, stability and/or RNA processing. Specific objectives will be to: (1) categorize cytoplasmic-localized, cytoskeletal-associated RBPs into multi-protein complexes; (2) determine the composition of RNAs bound by these multi-protein complexes and identify the associated cis-sequences; and (3) determine the role of modular domains of specific RBPs that may be responsible for specifying a particular RNA transport pathway by the analysis of genetic mutations. This information will provide an unprecedented view of the fate of RNAs and their location in the plant cell and will thereby fill a major gap in our understanding of steps in gene expression beyond transcription.