EAPSI: The Role of Salicylic Acid Binding Plant Lectins in Hormone Regulated Processes

植物激素是一组多样的调节分子。这些化学调节剂支配着植物的一系列生理过程。尽管最近在植物激素信号方面取得了进展，但仍有许多未知之处。本研究将探讨两种新的植物激素结合蛋白及其在植物中的功能。研究人员将试图揭示这两种新蛋白质在激素信号传导中所起的作用。研究将由郑超平教授指导进行。该项目将在台北市的国立台湾大学进行。主持教授郑超平博士在植物免疫、植物抗病性、植物分子生物学等方面的知识，对本计划非常宝贵。水杨酸是一种酚类植物激素，在植物生理、发育和抗病等方面具有重要作用。先前的工作利用最先进的蛋白质微阵列鉴定水杨酸的靶标。两个含有植物凝集素结构域的蛋白被鉴定为新的水杨酸结合蛋白，但它们在水杨酸信号传导中的作用尚不清楚。这项工作将对了解植物免疫信号和激素感知的作用模式至关重要。具体来说，这项工作将研究激素结合植物凝集素在激素信号、非生物防御和免疫信号方面的作用和功能。这些知识有助于加强植物的病原体和非生物防御反应。该奖项由美国国家科学基金会和台湾科技部共同资助，隶属于东亚和太平洋暑期研究所项目，支持一名美国研究生进行暑期研究。

Plant hormones are a diverse group of regulatory molecules. These chemical regulators dictate an array of plant physiological processes. Despite the recent advances in plant hormone signaling, much is still unknown. This work will look at two novel plant hormone binding proteins and their function in plants. The researcher will attempt to uncover the roles that these two novel proteins play in hormone signaling. The research will be conducted under the direction of Professor Chiu-Ping Cheng. The project will be performed at National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan. National Taiwan University is a premiere research institute with equipment and instruments required for the project. The knowledge of plant immunity, plant diseases resistance, and plant molecular biology that Dr. Chiu-Ping Cheng, the host professor, possesses would be invaluable to the project.Salicylic acid is a phenolic plant hormone with critical importance in plant physiology, plant development, and plant disease resistance. Prior work identified targets of salicylic acid utilizing state of the art protein microarrays. Two plant lectin-domain containing proteins were identified as novel salicylic acid binding protein, however their function in salicylic acid signaling is unknown. This work will be pivotal in understanding the mode of action of immune signaling and hormone perception in plants. Specifically, this work will investigate the roles and function of hormone-binding plant lectins with respect to hormone signaling, abiotic defenses, and immune signaling. The knowledge is instrumental to efforts to bolster pathogen and abiotic defense responses in plants.This award, under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program, supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan.