EAGER: Leucine Aminopeptidase - Regulator of the Stress-Induced Stromal Proteome

全球40%以上的粮食供应因病原体、虫害和杂草造成的破坏而损失。因此，提高植物生产力和抗虫性的新战略将显著提高世界粮食供应的安全。为了实现这一目标，需要深入了解控制昆虫抗性的机制。该项目处于植物-昆虫相互作用的前沿，将揭示叶绿体如何与细胞核沟通，以协调在伤害和昆虫攻击后的强大防御；这一知识将使未来的昆虫抗性新策略成为可能。这个项目对研究生来说是一个肥沃的训练场。在这个项目中，研究生的领导能力将通过指导本科生来发展。UCR是一家为少数族裔服务的机构，该项目将招收和吸引具有不同背景的学生。该项目的成果将通过科学期刊上的出版物传播，向河滨K-12学校和公众进行演讲，以及在会议和大学中发表演讲。该项目将研究一种名为亮氨酸氨基肽酶(LAP-A)的番茄叶绿体定位蛋白的重要性，以及它在昆虫取食和伤害后产生控制核基因表达的信号中的作用。该项目将确定介导叶绿体到细胞核通讯的依赖于LAP-A的信号。LAP-A作用的蛋白质/肽(靶标)将被识别，该靶标可能是信号，也可能是产生信号。LAP-A有两项活动。LAP-A是一种氨基肽酶，可以通过改变位于叶绿体中的靶蛋白/多肽的N-末端来产生信号。LAP-A也是一种分子伴侣，可能有助于靶标保持活跃的折叠状态。这些活动应该影响目标的结构、活性和/或稳定性，从而影响信号的产生。该项目将使用尖端蛋白质组学技术来测量三个番茄品系中表达不同水平LAP-A(LAPA沉默、LAPA过表达和野生型)的蛋白质/肽。目的1鉴定(1)被LAP-A切割的叶绿体蛋白和(2)具有与LAP-A的存在/不存在严格相关的稳定性的改变的叶绿体蛋白。目标2将确定一种名为谷胱甘肽(GSH)的小肽中LAP-A依赖的变化。初步数据链接LAP-A和GSH成交量。GSH是信号的一个很好的候选者，因为它调节着其他系统中的两个防御信号(活性氧物种和氧化还原状态)。LAP-A靶标的识别将揭示LAP-A产生的信号的性质，该信号介导叶绿体-细胞核通讯。

Over 40% of the world's food supply is lost to damage caused by pathogens, pests and weeds. Therefore, novel strategies to enhance plant productivity and resistance to pests will significantly increase the security of the world's food supply. To achieve this goal, a deep understanding the mechanisms that control resistance to insects is needed. This project is at the cutting edge of plant-insect interactions and will reveal how chloroplasts communicate with nuclei to coordinate a robust defense after injury and insect attack; this knowledge will enable new strategies for insect resistance in the future. This project is a fertile training ground for a graduate student. Graduate student leadership skills will be developed through guiding undergraduate's in this project. UCR is a minority-serving institution and this project will recruit and engage students with diverse backgrounds. Results from the project will be disseminated by publications in scientific journals, lay talks to Riverside K-12 schools and the public, and talks at meetings and universities.This project will study the importance of a tomato chloroplast-localized protein called leucine aminopeptidase (LAP-A) and its role in generating a signal that controls nuclear gene expression after insect feeding and wounding. This project will identify the LAP-A-dependent signal that mediates this chloroplast-to-nucleus communication. The protein/peptide (target) that LAP-A acts on will be identified and the target may be the signal or may create the signal. LAP-A has two activities. LAP-A is an aminopeptidase and may produce the signal by modifying the N-terminus of a target protein/peptide that resides in the chloroplast. LAP-A is also a molecular chaperone and may help targets stay in an active folded state. These activities should influence the target's structure, activity and/or stability and thereby signal production. This project will use cutting-edge proteomics technologies to measure proteins/peptides in three tomato lines that express different levels of LAP-A (LapA-silenced, LapA-overexpressing, and wild type). Aim 1 will identify chloroplast proteins that are (1) cut by LAP-A and (2) have altered stability that is strictly correlated with the presence/absence of LAP-A. Aim 2 will determine the LAP-A-dependent changes in a small peptide called glutathione (GSH). Preliminary data link LAP-A and GSH turnover. GSH is an excellent candidate for the signal as it regulates two defense signals (reactive oxygen species and redox status) in other systems. The identity of LAP-A's targets will reveal the nature of the LAP-A-generated signal that mediates chloroplast-nucleus communication.