Collaborative Research: Bilateral BBSRC-NSF/BIO: Regulation of plant stomatal aperture by SAUR (Small Auxin Up RNA) proteins

合作研究：双边BBSRC-NSF/BIO：SAUR(小生长素上调RNA)蛋白对植物气孔开度的调节。高级人员：Jason Reed(美国北卡罗来纳州)，Punita Nagpal(北卡罗来纳州联合)，William Gray(美国明尼苏达州)，Michael Blatt(美国格拉斯哥联合PI)该项目的最终目标是了解如何控制叶片生理以提高干旱期间的植物产量。气孔是植物叶片上的气孔，它的调节平衡了光合作用对二氧化碳吸收的需求和蒸腾作用造成的过度水分损失。更深入地了解调节气孔开度的分子和细胞机制可能会增强功能，有可能在干旱和其他环境胁迫下提高作物产量。这一合作项目下的研究将为美国北卡罗来纳大学、明尼苏达大学和英国格拉斯哥大学的博士后研究人员和本科生提供各种实验和计算技术和方法的培训。研究人员还将与高中教师一起，为高中生设计和实施关于气孔及其与植物水分利用和抗旱性的关系的课程计划。气孔运动对于优化植物生长，适应不断变化的环境条件，包括水分供应、温度、光照和二氧化碳水平，是至关重要的。气孔的打开和关闭是通过改变气孔两侧的保卫细胞的膨胀率和形状来实现的，这需要调节溶质和水在质膜和液泡膜(液泡膜)上的运动。转运蛋白活动在昼夜循环和多变环境中协调的机制还不完全清楚。该项目将利用最近的两个进展来阐明气孔控制。首先，SAUR(小生长素上调RNA)蛋白可以促进气孔开放，部分是通过调节靶向膜转运蛋白的PP2C.D磷酸酶来实现的。其次，研究人员开发的计算模型能够模拟保卫细胞生理学，可以预测和解释改变的SAUR或PP2C.D调节的影响。我们将利用遗传学、生物化学、电生理学和计算机模拟等多学科的方法来确定SAUR和PP2C.D蛋白调节气孔开度的机制，这些家族的不同成员是否有不同的活动，以及它们在什么时间和什么生理条件下起作用。实验和建模相结合的方法将有助于理解调节气孔运动的新机制，并将它们整合到现有的保卫细胞调节模型中。这些见解可能会建议用合成生物学的方法来改变作物的气孔开度或气孔反应的动力学，并加强对环境变化对植物生产力影响的预测模型。这一美英合作项目得到了美国国家科学基金会和英国生物技术和生物科学研究理事会的支持。

AbstractCollaborative Research: Bilateral BBSRC-NSF/BIO: Regulation of plant stomatal aperture by SAUR (Small Auxin Up RNA) proteins. Senior personnel: Jason Reed (PI, U. North Carolina), Punita Nagpal (co-PI, U. North Carolina), William Gray (PI, U. Minnesota), Michael Blatt (co-PI, U. Glasgow) The ultimate goal of the project is to understand how leaf physiology can be controlled to improve plant yield during drought. Stomata are pores on plant leaves whose regulation balances the demand for carbon dioxide uptake for photosynthesis against excessive water loss through transpiration. A deeper understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms regulating stomatal aperture could result in enhanced function, potentially leading to improved crop yields under drought and other environmental stresses. Research under this collaborative project will provide training for postdoctoral researchers and undergraduate students in diverse experimental and computational techniques and approaches at the University of North Carolina and University of Minnesota in the U.S. and the University of Glasgow in the U.K. Together with high school teachers, the researchers will also design and implement lesson plans for high school students on stomatal aperture and its relationship to plant water use and drought tolerance. Stomatal movements are critical for optimizing plant growth, and for adapting to changing environmental conditions including water availability, temperature, light, and CO2 levels. Stomatal opening and closing occur through changes in the turgor and shape of guard cells that flank each stomatal pore, which requires regulated movement of solutes and water across the plasma membrane and the tonoplast (vacuolar membrane). Mechanisms by which transporter activities are coordinated over the diurnal cycle and in variable environments are incompletely understood. The project will exploit two recent advances to elucidate stomatal aperture control. First, SAUR (Small Auxin Up RNA) proteins can promote stomatal opening, in part by regulating PP2C.D phosphatases that target membrane transporters. Second, computational models developed by the researchers enable simulations of guard cell physiology that can predict and explain effects of altered SAUR or PP2C.D regulation. A multidisciplinary approach including genetics, biochemistry, electrophysiology, and computational modeling will be used to determine mechanisms by which SAUR and PP2C.D proteins regulate stomatal aperture, whether different members of these families have different activities, and at what times and under what physiological conditions they act. The combined experimental and modeling approach will lead to understanding of novel mechanisms that regulate stomatal movements and integrate them into existing models of guard cell regulation. Such insights may suggest synthetic biology approaches to modify stomatal aperture or the kinetics of stomatal responses in crop plants, and enhance predictive models for the effects of environmental change on plant productivity. This collaborative US/UK project is supported by the US National Science Foundation and the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.