CAREER: Understanding the role of sugar transporters in plant growth

据估计，世界人口在今后30年将增加22亿，作物产量的显著提高将有助于满足对更多粮食的需求。 工程植物，使更多的糖分配给可食用的器官，如水果，是提高作物产量的一种方法。 在这些植物工程努力中，许多目标基因是糖转运蛋白。 该项目的重点是植物转运蛋白的SWEET家族，这是重要的糖分配到各种植物组织。 该项目的总体目标是描述SWEET糖转运蛋白的特征，并最终利用这些信息来设计具有更好产量的植物。 在教育层面，该项目将开展活动，为K-12、本科和研究生水平的学生弥合植物生物学和工程学之间的差距。 该项目还将通过直接参与拟议的研究，加强代表性不足的少数群体对工程学的参与。叶片中糖的产生及其向根和生殖器官的转移是作物产量的重要决定因素。 在这个过程中，一些最关键的基因是糖转运蛋白，这种蛋白质嵌入在细胞膜中，使糖从细胞或亚细胞区室中吸收或释放。 尽管它们的重要性得到了公认，但一般的转运蛋白，特别是糖转运蛋白，仍然非常难以研究。 传统的方法来表征转运蛋白是太费力和耗时的广泛采用。 这项建议的研究目标是使用生物分子传感器，以确定底物特异性的糖转运蛋白的SWEET家族的成员，并制定机制模型的SWEET底物竞争。 这些模型将在物理化学水平上定量地代表生物分子及其相互作用机制-代谢组和蛋白质组之间的关键缺失连线。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

It has been estimated that the world population will increase by 2.2 billion over the next three decades and a significant improvement in crop yields would help meet the need for more food. Engineering plants such that more sugar is allocated towards edible organs such as fruits is one way to improve crop yields. Many of the genes that are being targeted in these plant engineering efforts are sugar transporters. This project focuses on the SWEET family of plant transporters, which are important for the distribution of sugar to various plant tissues. The overall goal of this project is to characterize SWEET sugar transporters and ultimately to use the information to engineer plants with better yields. At the educational level, this project will develop activities to bridge the gap between plant biology and engineering for students at the K-12, undergraduate, and graduate levels. This project will also enhance the participation of underrepresented minorities in engineering through direct involvement in the proposed research. The production of sugars in leaves and their mobilization to roots and reproductive organs is a significant determinant of crop yields. Some of the most critical genes in this process are sugar transporters, the proteins embedded in membranes that enable the uptake or release of sugar from cells or subcellular compartments. Despite their recognized importance, transporters in general, and sugar transporters in particular, remain notoriously difficult to study. Conventional approaches to characterize transporters are too laborious and time-consuming for widespread adoption. The research objectives of this proposal are to use biomolecular sensors to determine the substrate specificity of members of the SWEET family of sugar transporters, and to formulate mechanistic models of substrate competition for SWEETs. These models will quantitatively represent biological molecules and their mechanisms of interaction at a physicochemical level—key missing wirings between the metabolome and the proteome.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.