The role of sugar-responsive bZIP transcription factors in the regulation of the circadian oscillator of Arabidopsis

由于人口增长和环境变化，迫切需要了解控制作物产量的基本生物学。我们最近发现了一种新的途径，它调节植物辨别时间、正确平衡糖资源和生长的能力。我们已经发现，细胞糖加快了生物钟的运行速度，而低糖使生物钟运行得更慢。我们有证据表明，植物生物钟速度的这种变化对于调节糖的消耗和储存之间的平衡是重要的。我们的研究发现了一种蛋白质，这种蛋白质被称为碱性亮氨酸ZIPPER63(BZIP63)，是正确控制昼夜节律速度对糖的反应所必需的。我们将发现如果其他bZIP蛋白调节生物钟，我们将发现由bZIP蛋白控制的基因表达的变化，我们将弄清楚bZIP蛋白是如何调节基因表达从而调节生物钟的。最后，我们将发现由于bZIP蛋白调节生物钟而导致的植物生理和代谢的变化。这些研究将开始解决为什么bZIP63，一种植物对糖状态的反应的调节器，通常与饥饿反应有关，调节昼夜节律振荡器的速度。我们将解决这个对糖敏感的信号通路如何调节生物钟，以优化植物的碳利用。这是由研究生物钟的亚历克斯·韦伯教授(英国剑桥)和米歇尔·文森茨教授(巴西坎皮纳斯)合作完成的，米歇尔·文森茨教授是bZIP转录因子和碳平衡方面的专家。我们的工作是在模式植物拟南芥中进行的，研究结果将通过研究人员与工业合作伙伴的关系，以及通过申请者实验室正在进行的研究计划，转移到英国作物(如小麦)和巴西作物(如甘蔗)的育种者。

Due to population growth and changing environments there is an urgent need to understand the basic biology that regulates the yield of crop plants. We have recently discovered a new pathway that regulates the ability of plants to tell the time, balance sugar resources correctly and grow. We have discovered that cellular sugars speed up the circadian clock, whereas low sugars makes the circadian clock run more slowly. We have evidence that this change in the speed of the plant circadian clock is important in regulating the balance between consumption and storage of sugars. Our studies have identified a protein that is required for the correct control of circadian speed in response to sugars, this protein is called BASIC LEUCINE ZIPPER63 (bZIP63). We will discover if other bZIP proteins regulate the circadian clock, we will discover the changes in gene expression controlled by the bZIP proteins, we will work out how the bZIP proteins regulate gene expression and therefore the circadian clock. Lastly, we will discover the changes in plant physiology and metabolism that occur as a result of bZIP proteins regulating the circadian clock. These studies will begin to resolve why bZIP63, a regulator of the response of plants to sugar status, and often associated with starvation responses, regulates the speed of the circadian oscillator. We will resolve how this sugar-sensitive signalling pathway regulates the circadian clock to optimise carbon use in the plant. This is a collaboration between Prof Alex Webb (Cambridge, UK) who studies circadian clocks and Prof Michel Vincentz (Campinas, Brazil) an expert in bZIP transcription factors and carbon homeostasis. Our work is performed in the model plant Arabidopsis and findings will be transferred to breeders of UK crops, such as wheat, and Brazilian crops such as sugar cane, through relationships of the researchers with industrial partners, and through ongoing research programmes in the applicants' laboratories.