NSF/MCB-BSF: RNA quality control in the chloroplast

NSF/MCB-BSF：叶绿体中的 RNA 质量控制

• 批准号: 2005794
• 负责人: David Stern
• 金额: $ 49.27万
• 依托单位: Boyce Thompson Institute Plant Research
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2005794&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; MCB; BSF; RNA; quality

One of the main avenues to optimizing plant performance is to improve their ability to harvest the sun’s energy. Plant cells contain chloroplasts where light energy is harvested and converted into sugars and ultimately into food, feed and fiber. The chloroplast contains its own DNA and genes that must function correctly for photosynthesis to occur. Like all biological processes, these functions are prone to errors that must be corrected for plants to function. This project seeks to understand the fundamental yet mysterious process by which this quality control is accomplished. Quality control of this type is not specific to chloroplasts, nor to plants, and therefore advances made in this project will be applicable to other living systems. The project also creates opportunities for training diverse undergraduates in experimental and computational techniques, including plant genetic engineering and bioinformatic analysis. Students will also be taught communications skills and will be exposed to a variety of career options. This training will occur through mentoring and teamwork, which are important transferable skills for early career scientists. In chloroplasts, RNA quality control is of paramount importance because transcription itself is relatively unregulated. This project builds on biochemical, genetic and computational findings in Arabidopsis, focusing on the essential RNA quality control enzyme, RNase J, which has been shown to trim 5’ and 3’ RNA termini and to eliminate deleterious antisense RNA. This project seeks to discover how RNase J is regulated, and how its specificity is imparted. The two major approaches are first, to create transgenic Arabidopsis lines that express versions of RNase J with informative site-directed mutations or deletions, and second, to biochemically measure the activities of RNaseJ in vitro. Overall, the experiments should advance knowledge of how the chloroplast transcriptome is shaped, and provide insights into mechanisms that discriminate transcripts among large populations of RNA molecules.This award was co-funded by the Genetic Mechanisms program of the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, and the Plant Genome Research Program of the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems in the Biological Sciences Directorate.This collaborative US/Israel project is supported by the US National Science Foundation and the Israeli Binational Science Foundation.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.

优化植物性能的主要途径之一是提高其收获太阳能量的能力。植物细胞中含有叶绿体，在其中收获轻能并转化为糖，并最终转化为食物，饲料和纤维。叶绿体包含其自身的DNA和基因，必须正常工作才能进行光合作用。像所有生物过程一样，这些功能很容易出现误差，必须纠正植物的运作。该项目旨在了解实现这种质量控制的基本而神秘的过程。这种类型的质量控制不是特定于叶绿体，也不针对植物，因此该项目的进步将适用于其他生物系统。该项目还为在实验和计算技术（包括植物基因工程和生物信息学分析）中培训潜水员的本科生创造了机会。还将教授学生的沟通技巧，并将接触到各种职业选择。这项培训将通过心理和团队合作进行，这是早期职业科学家的重要转移技能。在叶绿体中，RNA质量控制至关重要，因为转录本身相对不受管制。该项目基于拟南芥中的生化，遗传和计算发现，重点是必需的RNA质量控制酶RNase J，该酶已显示出5'和3'RNA末端的修剪，并消除了有害的反义RNA。该项目旨在发现RNase J的调节方式，以及如何赋予其特异性。首先，这两种主要方法是创建带有信息位置的突变或缺失的RNase J版本的转基因拟南芥线条，其次，以生化测量RNASEJ在体外的活性。总体而言，实验应提高有关叶绿体转录组的形状的知识，并提供有关区分大量RNA分子种群的转录本的见解。该奖项由分子和蜂窝生物学家的遗传机制共同资助了遗传机制，并构成了植物元素的植物研究程序，以及整合有机体的植物研究计划。美国/以色列的项目得到了美国国家科学基金会和以色列双性科学基金会的支持。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用该基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准来评估，以诚实的支持。