Autophagy-dependent and -independent mechanisms of RNA transport to the vacuole and their role in rRNA turnover and cellular homeostasis

植物细胞循环利用其成分的途径对生长和环境胁迫耐受性至关重要，但我们对这些途径的了解非常有限。这个项目将通过确定细胞成分被损坏或不再需要时回收利用的机制来解决这些限制。更好地了解这些途径将使作物和其他植物在生长和适应营养缺乏和干旱等胁迫条件之间取得最佳平衡。在这个项目中，许多研究生和本科生将接受研究培训，每年都会有一名高中教师通过正在进行的教师研究经验项目参与研究，这可能会影响大量的高中生。本课程将改进细胞生物学的计算机教学工具，并引入新生生物学实验室。核糖体是细胞中必不可少的丰富成分，但其降解和再循环途径尚不清楚。本项目的目标是通过分析植物液泡内核糖体和核糖体成分的运输和降解来破译这些途径。一个新发现的核糖体RNA的运输途径将被表征，使用荧光RNA运输试验和突变体的分析是该途径所需的缺陷因素。核糖体被识别和选择降解的方式，例如通过累积损伤，将由生物化学决定。质谱代谢组学分析可以评估核糖体降解途径缺失对细胞代谢和体内平衡的影响。

The pathways by which plant cells recycle their constituents are critical for growth and environmental stress tolerance, yet our knowledge of these pathways is very limited. This project will address these limitations by identifying the mechanisms by which cellular components are recycled once they are damaged or no longer needed. A better understanding of these pathways will allow the development of crops and other plants with an optimized balance between growth and adaptation to stress conditions such as nutrient deficiencies and drought. A number of graduate and undergraduate students will be trained in research during this project, and each year a high school teacher will be involved in the research through an ongoing Research Experiences for Teachers program, potentially impacting large numbers of high school students. Enhancements will be made to an educational computer learning tool on cell biology and it will be introduced into Freshman Biology laboratories. Ribosomes are essential and highly abundant components of cells, yet their degradation and recycling pathways are unclear. The goal of this project is to decipher these pathways by analyzing the transport and degradation of ribosomes and ribosomal components within plant vacuoles. A newly discovered pathway for transport of ribosomal RNA will be characterized, using a fluorescent RNA transport assay together with analysis of mutants that are defective in factors required for this pathway. The way in which ribosomes are recognized and selected for degradation, for example by accumulating damage, will be determined biochemically. Metabolome analysis by mass spectrometry will allow the effect of loss of ribosome degradation pathways on cell metabolism and homeostasis to be assessed.