CPD11调控叶绿体分裂的分子机制

叶绿体分裂是一个重要的生物学过程。叶绿体作为光合作用的主要场所，其各种生理活动，包括叶绿体分裂，必定且也有必要受到外界环境的影响。人们目前已经鉴定出了很多叶绿体分裂基因，然而关于叶绿体分裂调控的分子机制的研究却很少，尤其是在蛋白质修饰水平上的研究。我们通过突变体筛选和图位克隆法鉴定了一个新的叶绿体分裂基因,CPD11。令人意外的是，该基因编码一种负责蛋白质修饰的酶，硫氧还蛋白。我们猜测CPD11可能通过感受其所处亚细胞环境的变化来修饰某一种叶绿体分裂蛋白—通过改变其二硫键的氧化还原状态来调节其活性，进而影响叶绿体的分裂。本项目计划通过对CPD11的亚细胞定位和生化分析等方法鉴定受CPD11调控的叶绿体分裂蛋白，研究环境因素如何通过CPD11对有关叶绿体分裂蛋白的活性调节来影响叶绿体的分裂，分析该调节机制在植物中的起源和进化。

Chloroplast division is an important biological process. As a major place of photosynthesis, its physiological activities, including chloroplast division, must and should be affected by environmental factors. Many chloroplast division genes have been identified so far, but studies on the mechanism of the regulation of chloroplast division were rare, especially at the level of protein modification. Through mutant screening and mapped-based cloning, we have identified a new chloroplast division gene, CPD11. Surprisingly, it encodes an enzyme for protein modification, thioredoxin. We suspect that CPD11 may respond to the changes of its subcellular environment and modify a chloroplast division protein—regulate its activity through changing the redox state of its disulfide bond, and affect chloroplast division. This project plans to identify the chloroplast division proteins regulated by CPD11 through subcellular localization study of CPD11 and biochemical analysis, analyze how environmental factors affect chloroplast division through CPD11’s regulation of a chloroplast division protein, and study how this regulation mechanism was evolved.