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CAREER: Understanding the role of sugar transporters in plant growth

职业：了解糖转运蛋白在植物生长中的作用

基本信息

批准号：
1942722
负责人：
Lily Cheung
金额：
$ 99.22万
依托单位：
Georgia Tech Research Corporation
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Continuing Grant
财政年份：
2019
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2019-12-15 至 2024-11-30
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1942722&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
CAREER Understanding role sugar transporters

项目摘要

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.

据估计，未来30年世界人口将增加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。改造植物，使更多的糖分配给水果等可食用器官，是提高作物产量的一种方式。这些植物工程工作中的许多目标基因都是糖转运蛋白。该项目主要研究甜味植物转运蛋白家族，它们对糖在植物组织中的分布起着重要作用。该项目的总体目标是确定甜糖运输者的特征，并最终利用这些信息来设计出产量更高的植物。在教育层面，该项目将为K-12、本科生和研究生开展活动，以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，加强代表不足的少数群体对工程学的参与。叶片中糖的产生及其对根和生殖器官的动员是作物产量的重要决定因素。在这一过程中，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，使细胞或亚细胞隔间能够吸收或释放糖。尽管它们的重要性得到公认，但总的来说，尤其是糖的转运蛋白，仍然是出了名的难以研究。传统的描述运输者特征的方法过于费力和耗时，无法广泛采用。这项建议的研究目标是利用生物分子传感器来确定糖转运蛋白家族成员的底物专一性，并建立底物竞争甜食的机制模型。这些模型将定量地代表生物分子及其在物理化学水平上的相互作用机制-代谢组和蛋白质组之间的关键缺失连接。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。