The catalytic activity and subcellular trafficking of plant cellulose synthase complexes

纤维素是一种葡萄糖单体的聚合物，可以由植物、许多卵菌和一些细菌产生。植物纤维素被用来制作衣服、造纸和生产生物燃料。在植物中，纤维素是由位于细胞表面的纤维素合酶蛋白复合物合成的，它是控制植物细胞形状和整体植物结构的主要细胞壁成分。纤维素合酶复合物需要复杂的调控机制才能传递到细胞表面并在纤维素生物合成中发挥催化作用。该项目将使用多学科方法来检查该法规的具体方面。该项目将通过在实验室接待高中生和为高中科学教师提供培训，为推广项目做出贡献。该项目还将涉及众多来自不同背景的本科生，从而激发对植物生物学的研究兴趣，促进STEM教育。虽然人们普遍认为纤维素合酶复合物的亚细胞运输对植物的纤维素合成至关重要，但纤维素合酶复合物的催化活性是否与其亚细胞运输有关尚不清楚。本项目旨在利用化学遗传方法和突变体分析来发现纤维素合酶复合物的催化活性如何影响它们的亚细胞运输。化学抑制剂处理结合活细胞成像将执行检查催化活性如何影响纤维素合成酶复合物的亚细胞运输的不同步骤。一系列纤维素合酶突变体携带预测催化活性的重要氨基酸突变，将分析其生长表型，纤维素含量和突变蛋白运输动态。该研究有望增加对纤维素合酶复合物催化活性与亚细胞运输之间关系的理解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Cellulose is a polymer of glucose monomers that can be produced by plants, many oomycetes, and some bacteria. Plant cellulose is used to make clothes, produce paper, and generate biofuels. In plants cellulose is synthesized by cellulose synthase protein complexes situated at the cell surface and it serves as a major cell wall component that controls plant cell shape and overall plant architecture. Cellulose synthase complexes require sophisticated regulatory mechanism to be delivered to the cell surface and perform their catalytic functions in cellulose biosynthesis. This project will use multidisciplinary approaches to examine specific aspects of this regulation. The project will contribute to outreach programs by hosting high school students in the laboratory and providing training to high school science teachers. This project will also involve numerous undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds, thus stimulating research interest in plant biology and promoting STEM education. Although it is widely recognized that the subcellular transport of the cellulose synthase complex is essential for cellulose synthesis in plants, its unclear whether the catalytic activity of the cellulose synthase complex is related to its subcellular transport. This project aims at using chemical genetic methods and mutant analysis to discover how the catalytic activity of cellulose synthase complexes impacts their subcellular trafficking. Chemical inhibitor treatment combined with live-cell imaging will be performed to examine how catalytic activity affects different steps of cellulose synthase complex subcelluar trafficking. A series of cellulose synthase mutants that carry mutations at important amino acids for predicted catalytic activity will be analyzed for their growth phenotypes, cellulose content, and mutated protein trafficking dynamics. The research is expected to increase understanding of the relationship between cellulose synthase complex catalytic activity and subcellular trafficking.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.