Functional analysis of the skp1-like ASK gene family in arabidopsis

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The importance of protein turnover for the regulation of plant development has become increasingly apparent in recent years - primarily through combined genetic and biochemical analyses in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. These studies have identified protein complexes (SCF complexes) as E3 Ubiquitin Ligases that are important regulators of such diverse functions as flower development, pathogenesis, auxin-mediated developmental responses, blue light sensing and circadian rhythm.Given recent evidence of functional overlap between closely related ASK genes, a combined genetic and biochemical study is proposed to explore issues of genetic redundancy among genes that cluster following phylogenetic analysis. We hypothesize that genes within phylogenetic clades will exhibit varying degrees of genetic redundancy and corresponding molecular function. We intend to explore the phenotypes of different classes of loss-of-function ask alleles available publicly or uniquely to us in Arabidopsis (e.g. T-DNA insertion, fast-neutron deletions, artificial-miRNA lines) against the likelihood that different alleles will exhibit different degrees of genetic penetrance and resulting phenotype. We predict these studies will provide valuable genetic resources with which to define the functional diversity of ASK genes, and to shed new light on the role that ASK genes may play in the molecular mechanisms that regulate plant form and function.