Plant Cell Cycle Regulation and Protein Ubiquitination

植物细胞周期调控和蛋白质泛素化

• 批准号: 227533-2013
• 负责人: Wang, Hong
• 金额: $ 2.19万
• 依托单位: University of Saskatchewan
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=628899
• 关键词: Plant; Cell; Cycle; Regulation; Protein

Plants grow because cells (more specifically cells in the meristems) divide and these new cells then increase in size. Therefore, cell division is fundamental for plant growth. Due to the pivotal biological role of cell division, there has been intensive research activities aimed at understanding genes that regulate the cell division cycle in plants. My research in this area aims to understand the molecular and biochemical mechanisms regulating cell division, plant growth and related processes. The discoveries from this research have the potential to enhance plant growth (e.g. seed size) and increase biomass. The cell cycle in eukaryotes is controlled by a class of enzymes called cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs), which can be regulated by CDK inhibitors. Previously, we discovered the first plant CDK inhibitor genes called ICKs from the plant Arabidopsis thaliana (a model species for plant molecular biology studies). They provide an excellent tool to understand the molecular mechanisms regulating the plant cell cycle. We have contributed significantly to the understanding of the functions and regulation of this family of plant cell cycle regulators. Despite the progress, many important questions remain unanswered. We will further study and focus on ICK functions in plants, protein stability, mechanisms of CDK inhibition and biological significance of nuclear localization. In addition, we will on a novel protein ubiquitination (one type of protein modification) pathway and determine its roles in plant growth and development. The proposed research will maintain our exiting strong research on a family of plant CDK inhibitors, and make new discoveries in a novel pathway of protein modification.

植物生长是因为细胞（更具体地说是分生组织中的细胞）分裂，然后这些新细胞的大小增加。因此，细胞分裂是植物生长的基础。由于细胞分裂的关键生物学作用，已经有密集的研究活动，旨在了解调控植物细胞分裂周期的基因。我在这一领域的研究旨在了解调节细胞分裂，植物生长和相关过程的分子和生物化学机制。这项研究的发现有可能促进植物生长（例如种子大小）并增加生物量。真核生物的细胞周期由一类称为细胞周期蛋白依赖性激酶（CDK）的酶控制，CDK抑制剂可以调节CDK。在此之前，我们从植物拟南芥（Arabidopsis thaliana）（植物分子生物学研究的模式物种）中发现了第一个被称为ICKs的植物CDK抑制剂基因。它们为理解调节植物细胞周期的分子机制提供了极好的工具。我们有显着贡献的功能和调节的理解这个家庭的植物细胞周期调节剂。尽管取得了进展，但许多重要问题仍未得到解答。我们将进一步研究和关注ICK在植物中的功能、蛋白质稳定性、CDK抑制机制以及核定位的生物学意义。此外，我们还将研究一种新的蛋白质泛素化（蛋白质修饰的一种）途径，并确定其在植物生长发育中的作用。该研究将保持我们在植物CDK抑制剂家族方面已有的研究成果，并在蛋白质修饰的新途径方面有新的发现。