IRES: PUI Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research in Paris Characterizing a Crucial Plant Blue Light Photoreceptor

植物通过与光相互作用的蛋白质对环境压力做出反应。其中一种蛋白质，隐色素，是植物对蓝光和环境变化反应的关键调节因子。隐色素被认为是由触发生物防御机制的结构变化激活的。然而，这些变化的性质以及它们如何在植物中引发反应仍然未知。该项目将采用国际跨学科的方法解决这一问题，涉及来自泽维尔大学的三名调查员和十二名本科生，为期三年。每年夏天，四名学生将在法国巴黎的皮埃尔和玛丽居里大学进行研究，在那里他们将培养和描述一种详尽的隐色素变体。随后，PI和学生将使用生物物理技术来获取与生物学相关的隐色素形状变化的信息。利用这种跨学科的方法，包括生物化学、光生物学和生物物理学，可以确定参与植物生命适应环境的关键受体之一的生物活性结构基础。这项工作的一个主要目的是为本科生提供有意义的、前沿的研究机会，并结合国际经验。这些机会将激发和增加对STEM研究感兴趣的学生人数，并为他们提供在未来尚未被发现的跨学科领域的全球研究环境中具有竞争力和领导地位所需的国际经验。少数族裔学生和女性将特别针对这种体验。隐色素研究的另一个社会效益是，有可能对生态系统和农业植物采取新的干预措施，防止全球气候变化对经济和健康的影响。

Plants respond to environmental stressors via proteins that interact with light. One of these proteins, cryptochrome, is a key regulator of plant responses to blue light and environmental changes. Cryptochromes are thought to be activated by structural changes which trigger biological defense mechanisms. However, the nature of these changes and how they initiate responses in the plant remains unknown. This project will address this issue with an international interdisciplinary approach, involving three investigators and twelve undergraduate students from Xavier University over the span of three years. Four students will perform research each summer at the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, France where they will grow and characterize an exhaustive collection of cryptochrome variants. Subsequently, the PI and students will use biophysical technology to obtain information on changes in shape of cryptochromes that are biologically relevant. Using this interdisciplinary approach including biochemistry, photobiology, and biophysics, the structural basis of biological activity can be determined for one of the key receptors involved in the adaptation of plant life to the environment.A key aim of this work is to provide undergraduate students with meaningful, cutting edge research opportunities, combined with international experience. These opportunities will excite and increase the numbers of students interested in STEM research, and give them the international experience needed to take a competitive, leadership position in the global research environment of the future in yet to be discovered interdisciplinary fields. Minority students and women will be specifically targeted for this experience. A further societal benefit from the study of cryptochromes is the possibility of novel interventions in both ecosystems and agricultural plants which may provide protection against economic and health effects of global climate change.