Investigation of the molecular chaperone HSP90 in arabidopsis: its function in plant development, organelle physiology and biogenesis

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All living organisms on the earth are continuously exposed to a variety of environmental stresses. Organisms such as plants do not have the ability to move and escape from the stresses and are more frequently affected adversely. Naturally, plants like most other organisms develop complex mechanisms to sensor and cope with environmental stresses. Molecular chaperones are a group of proteins, most of which are highly induced by heat shock and therefore termed as heat shock proteins (HSP), to help other proteins to function properly under stress conditions. Molecular chaperones are also important in the maintenance of proper activities of other proteins under normal growth conditions and serve as critical players in the cellular protein quality control system. I am proposing a research program to study a particular set of molecular chaperones termed HSP90 in the model plant Arabidopsis and to explore what other proteins are aided by Arabidopsis HSP90 for their proper functions under both normal and stress conditions. Arabidopsis contains seven HSP90 genes. This study will investigate the biochemical properties of two Arabidopsis HSP90s which are localized in chloroplast and endoplasmic reticulum and the mechanism of action of plant HSP90s as sensors of environmental stresses, and will identify, by proteomics approaches, targets which can be potentially used for future breeding of crops with better resistance to biotic or abiotic stresses. The proposed research program will also complement the research on HSP90 in mammalian cells, where this protein is currently used as a target for cancer research.