The dynamics of plastid protein trafficking mechanisms and organelle biogenesis

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Plants form the pillars of the Earth's life force, a force that has far-reaching implications for the surrounding environment and the well-being of the planet.  Plants take part in life-supporting activities such as photosynthesis, starch and oil production, and respiration.  These activities are governed by dynamic processes, requiring interaction of countless molecular participants and take place in specialized spaces inside plant cells.  Chloroplasts and mitochondria are important "life-driving" organelles, capturing and producing energy for the plant cell.  These energy-generating processes underlie the workings of all cellular events, by providing energy and products for driving the protein networks and by providing the regulatory signals governing decision-making events.  These decisions in turn determine how the plant works under changing environments.  Cellular events are thus driven by a web of interacting networks between proteins of the nucleus and the organelles. A key interactive mechanism involves protein delivery.  The dynamic act of protein delivery itself (e.g., the delivery of controlling enzymes, regulators, and gatekeepers) will determine how protein networks react and work together in response to different environments, and more importantly, how organelles develop for adaptation to the ever-changing environment.  Our research is focused on how protein delivery systems work and how this process is regulated to help plants adapt to the changing environment.  This proposal outlines new, real-time strategies to map out the role of protein delivery in the development of a plant, in adaptation, and in organelle biogenesis.  This endeavour will lead to discoveries bearing value in terms of fundamental knowledge and commercially useful technologies.  The advancements will provide powerful tools for assessing the impact of chemicals (pharmaceutical or environmental), provide disease models for health research, and strategies for greenhouse gas management.  More importantly, students going through the proposed 5-year NSERC program will be provided with a multidisciplinary environment for intensive training in discoveries research applicable to their careers (for at least 3 PhD, 6 MSc and 10 BSc).