Programmed cell death in plant development

植物发育过程中的程序性细胞死亡

• 批准号: RGPIN-2017-04299
• 负责人: Gunawardena, Arunika
• 金额: $ 2.84万
• 依托单位: Dalhousie University
• 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=630366
• 关键词: Programmed; cell; death; plant; development

Programmed cell death (PCD) is a genetically-enabled process in which select cells organize their own destruction. PCD is ubiquitous in all eukaryotic kingdoms and is employed by both unicellular and multicellular organisms as part of normal development or in response to external stimuli. In plants, PCD is necessary for growth and survival and can either be developmentally regulated or environmentally induced. A unique example of developmental PCD is perforation (hole) formation in lace plant leaves. These holes are situated equidistantly between longitudinal and transverse veins, giving leaves a lattice-like pattern. During perforation formation, discrete subpopulations of cells undergo PCD while adjacent cells remain intact. Lace plant is native to Madagascar and difficult to grow in aquarium conditions. I have successfully developed a sterile culture system to work on developmental PCD in lace plant. We still do not know what cues trigger PCD at a specific stage of leaf development, so far as the signaling pathways and the molecular mechanisms are concerned. I have characterized the cell death process during perforation formation in lace plant and showed that this aquatic plant is an ideal model system to study developmental PCD in vivo. Therefore, the long term objective of my research is to achieve a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms involved in developmental PCD using lace plant leaf morphogenesis as a model system. This will be achieved through the following objectives: 1. Identification of key regulators and signaling pathways in lace plant PCD. 2. Determination of the role of autophagy during lace plant PCD. 3. Characterization of organelle dynamics during PCD via genetic transformation. 4. Investigation of anthocyanin and other phenolic compounds involved in lace plant PCD. 5. Identification of differentially expressed genes between PCD cells and NPCD cells. These results will help us to determine whether there are common mechanisms between animal and plant PCD or whether they evolved independently.

程序性细胞死亡(PCD)是一种基因启动的过程，在这个过程中，选择的细胞组织自己的破坏。PCD普遍存在于所有真核生物中，单细胞和多细胞生物体都利用PCD作为正常发育的一部分或对外界刺激的反应。在植物中，PCD是生长和生存所必需的，可以是发育调节的，也可以是环境诱导的。花边植物叶片中的穿孔(孔)形成是发育PCD的一个独特的例子。这些孔洞等距离地位于纵脉和横脉之间，使树叶形成格子状的图案。在穿孔形成过程中，不连续的细胞亚群经历PCD，而相邻细胞保持完好。蕾丝植物原产于马达加斯加，很难在水族馆条件下生长。我已经成功地开发了一种无菌培养系统来研究花边植物中发育的PCD。就信号通路和分子机制而言，我们仍然不知道是什么信号在叶片发育的特定阶段触发PCD。我对花边植物穿孔形成过程中的细胞死亡过程进行了表征，表明这种水生植物是研究体内发育的PCD的理想模型系统。因此，我研究的长期目标是以蕾丝植物叶片形态发生为模型系统，从根本上了解PCD的发生机制。这将通过以下目标来实现：1.识别花边植物PCD中的关键调控因子和信号通路。2.花边植物PCD中自噬作用的测定。3.遗传转化PCD过程中细胞器的动态变化特征。4.花边植物PCD中花色苷等酚类化合物的研究。5.PCD细胞与NPCD细胞差异表达基因的鉴定这些结果将有助于我们确定动物和植物PCD之间是否存在共同的机制，或者它们是否独立进化。