Collaborative proposal: Regulation of pre-mRNA splicing by light signals

对光的感知是植物与环境相互作用以改变生长和最大限度地捕捉阳光的最基本方式之一。这个项目将研究光敏色素感受器感知的环境光信号如何调节基因表达，从而影响植物的生长和生产力。该项目将优先从代表性不足的群体中培训下一代科学家，他们将在开发农业生物技术新工具以改善粮食安全、人类健康和环境可持续性方面获得相当多的经验。教育工具包的开发和传播将极大地扩大高中生接受科学研究的教育机会。在当地K-12学校的生物课上发表演讲，不仅将向年轻学生传授转基因生物，还将提高参与研究人员的沟通和教学技能。这将使不同的K-12学生群体接触到现代研究设施，以有趣和引人入胜的方式向他们介绍科学方法，并激励他们选择科学的职业道路。这个项目将阐明鲜为人知的光敏色素在转录和转录后水平上调节基因表达的机制。选择性的mRNA剪接是一个高度调控的过程，它增强了基因组中编码的mRNAs的多样性。该小组以前的工作表明，这一过程受光感受器光敏色素B(PhyB)介导的光信号的影响，从而提供了一种新的机制，植物可以通过它来快速响应光信号。该项目将使用生化、分子、遗传学和基因组学方法来揭示SFPS-RRC1-SWAP1多蛋白复合体调控剪接的详细生化机制，并研究PhyB如何在光下调控这种剪接过程。这一结果预计将为早期事件提供重要的新见解，将光暴露与植物中的替代剪接联系起来。这一奖项反映了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。

The perception of light is one of the most fundamental ways that plants interact with the environment to alter growth and maximize capture of sunlight. This project will address how environmental light signals perceived by the phytochrome photoreceptors regulate gene expression to affect plant growth and productivity. This project will train the next generation of scientists preferentially from underrepresented groups, who will gain considerable experience in developing new tools in agricultural biotechnology to improve food security, human health, and environmental sustainability. Development and dissemination of educational toolkits will greatly expand educational opportunities to high school students in scientific research. Presentations in biology classes of local K-12 schools will not only teach young students about genetically modified organisms, but also improve communication and teaching skills of participating researchers. This will expose a diverse group of K-12 students to a modern research facility, introduce them to the scientific method in a fun and engaging way and inspire them to choose a scientific career path. This project will elucidate poorly understood mechanisms by which phytochromes regulate gene expression at both transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. Alternative mRNA splicing is a highly regulated process that enhances the diversity of mRNAs encoded in the genome. Previous work by this group showed that this process is affected by light signals mediated through the photoreceptor phytochrome B (phyB), thereby providing a novel mechanism by which plants can rapidly respond to light signals. This project will use biochemical, molecular, genetic, and genomic approaches to uncover the detailed biochemical mechanisms of regulation of splicing by the SFPS-RRC1-SWAP1 multi-protein complex and to investigate how phyB regulates this splicing process under light. The results are expected to provide important new insights on the early events linking light exposure to alternative splicing in plants.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.