Establishing a core signaling mechanism for the multi-functional FERONIA receptor kinase

建立多功能FERONIA受体激酶的核心信号机制

• 批准号: 1715764
• 负责人: Alice Cheung
• 金额: $ 90万
• 依托单位: University of Massachusetts Amherst
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-08-01 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1715764&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Establishing; core; signaling; mechanism; multi

The ultimate goal of the research is to understand how plants grow, develop and thrive even when under adverse environmental conditions, thus potentially augmenting society's ability to ensure sustainable agricultural productivity and ecological balance. To accomplish the goals of the research, a team of students comprised of undergraduates, doctoral students and postdoctoral associates will be trained to carry out a range of projects focused on a cell membrane located molecule, called FERONIA, known to play key roles in diverse aspects of plant growth and survival. These projects will provide them with training in biochemistry, cell biology and molecular biology, the basics of how cells and organisms function, which will enhance their ability to emerge as teachers and researchers. Workshops offering hands-on exposure to experiments related to the project and compatible to a high school laboratory will be offered to teachers in STEM who will also be offered further mentoring to encourage incorporation of some of the materials into their classroom exercises or discussions. Topics related to the research area will be incorporated into a teaching effort that fosters skills in science writing to inform the public. Together these activities should broaden society's pipeline for future scientists as well as improve public awareness of the scientific inquiry process and the importance of its products. Moreover, FERONIA is conserved among plant species; the knowledge and research materials generated by this project should stimulate interest and facilitate similar inquiries in agriculturally important crops and in efforts to ensure vibrant growth of plants in their native habitats, including under harsh conditions, thus with the potential to impact global issues such as food production and a sustainable ecology. Research supported by this award focuses on understanding how FERONIA, from the model plant Arabidopsis, controls a broad array of processes critical for plant growth, development and coping with environmental stresses. FERONIA belongs to a class of molecules called receptor kinases, which play key roles in sensing changes outside the cell and translating these signals to stimulate cellular responses appropriate for the incoming signals. Although the importance of receptor kinases has long been established in plants by voluminous research, the diverse functional roles carried out by FERONIA is striking and how it is accomplished remains puzzling. The goal of this project is to determine how FERONIA orchestrates what must be a complex network of biochemical and cell biological processes needed to execute its functions. In particular, the project seeks to elucidate a core signal transduction pathway capable of serving as a hub with which the various FER-regulated processes might be integrated. This core pathway, referred to as FER/LLG-ROPGEF-RAC/ROP, is comprised of FERONIA receptor kinase, its functional partner, a lipid-modified protein anchored on the cell membrane called LLG1, and their immediate cellular target ROPGEF, which activates key cytoplasmic signaling molecules, called RAC/ROP GTPases. Biochemical and microscopy-based experiments will be carried out in plants grown under normal growth conditions and when challenged by an environmental growth regulatory signal, a small peptide hormone called RALF1. Experiments are designed to examine how these molecules interact, the cellular and molecular consequences of these interactions and how they together might lead to various plant growth responses regulated by FERONIA. Together, results from this research should provide insight towards the mechanistic underpinning of how FERONIA mediates its diverse functional roles whereby furthering our knowledge about strategies employed by organisms for growth and survival.

研究的最终目标是了解植物如何在不利的环境条件下生长、发育和茁壮成长，从而有可能增强社会确保可持续农业生产力和生态平衡的能力。为了实现研究的目标，一个由本科生，博士生和博士后组成的学生团队将接受培训，以开展一系列专注于细胞膜定位分子的项目，称为FERONIA，已知在植物生长和生存的各个方面发挥关键作用。这些项目将为他们提供生物化学，细胞生物学和分子生物学方面的培训，这些培训是细胞和生物体如何运作的基础知识，这将提高他们成为教师和研究人员的能力。将向STEM教师提供与该项目相关并与高中实验室兼容的实验实践讲习班，他们还将获得进一步的指导，以鼓励将一些材料纳入课堂练习或讨论。与研究领域相关的主题将被纳入教学工作，培养科学写作技能，以告知公众。这些活动应能拓宽社会培养未来科学家的渠道，并提高公众对科学探究过程及其产品重要性的认识。此外，FERONIA在植物物种中是保守的;该项目产生的知识和研究材料应激发人们的兴趣，并促进对农业重要作物的类似调查，并努力确保植物在其原生栖息地，包括在恶劣条件下的蓬勃生长，从而有可能影响粮食生产和可持续生态等全球问题。该奖项支持的研究重点是了解模式植物拟南芥中的FERONIA如何控制对植物生长，发育和应对环境压力至关重要的一系列过程。FERONIA属于一类称为受体激酶的分子，其在感知细胞外的变化并翻译这些信号以刺激适合传入信号的细胞反应中发挥关键作用。虽然受体激酶的重要性早已通过大量的研究在植物中确立，但FERONIA所发挥的多种功能作用是惊人的，并且它是如何实现的仍然令人困惑。该项目的目标是确定FERONIA如何协调执行其功能所需的生化和细胞生物过程的复杂网络。特别是，该项目旨在阐明一个核心的信号转导途径，能够作为一个枢纽，其中各种FER调节过程可能会被整合。该核心途径称为FER/LLG-ROPGEF-RAC/ROP，由FERONIA受体激酶、其功能伴侣（一种锚定在细胞膜上的脂质修饰蛋白，称为LLG 1）及其直接细胞靶点ROPGEF（激活关键细胞质信号传导分子，称为RAC/ROP GTP酶）组成。生物化学和显微镜为基础的实验将在正常生长条件下生长的植物中进行，当受到环境生长调节信号的挑战时，一种称为RALF 1的小肽激素。实验旨在研究这些分子如何相互作用，这些相互作用的细胞和分子后果，以及它们如何共同导致由FERONIA调节的各种植物生长反应。总之，这项研究的结果应该提供深入了解FERONIA如何介导其多种功能作用的机制基础，从而进一步了解生物体生长和生存所采用的策略。

项目成果

FERONIA receptor kinase-regulated reactive oxygen species mediate self-incompatibility in Brassica rapa

• DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.04.060
• 发表时间: 2021-07-26
• 期刊: CURRENT BIOLOGY
• 影响因子: 9.2
• 作者: Zhang, Lili;Huang, Jiabao;Duan, Qiaohong
• 通讯作者: Duan, Qiaohong

Malectin/Malectin-like domain-dontaining proteins: a repertore of surface molecules with broad functional potential

Mallectin/Malectin 样结构域蛋白：具有广泛功能潜力的表面分子库

• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: The Cell surface
• 作者: Yang, H;Wang, D;Guo, L;Pan, H;Yvon, R;Garman, S;Wu, Hen-Ming;Cheung, AY.
• 通讯作者: Cheung, AY.