高等植物胚后的生长发育以及作物的产量依赖于胚胎发生，晚期胚胎发生即种子成熟过程中所积累的贮藏物质是植物胚后生长发育的基础和人类粮食的主要来源，因而研究植物的种子成熟具有重要理论意义和生产应用价值。本课题组在前期研究结果中发现，RNA结合蛋白LSM不仅参与种子油脂和贮藏蛋白的积累，并且突变体的种子皱缩，其种子成熟过程受到了明显抑制，表明LSM在种子成熟时期参与了植物胚胎发生的调控。本项目拟在前期研究的基础上综合运用细胞生物学、分子生物学、遗传学、生物化学和种子生物学等技术深入分析LSM在植物种子成熟中的功能，解析LSM调控种子成熟的分子遗传机制，并利用酵母双杂交、亲和纯化、BiFC、RNA-Seq等方法筛选和鉴定LSM的相互作用蛋白与靶基因，以期深入阐明LSM调控种子成熟的分子调控网络。项目的实施将阐明一种新的植物种子成熟调控机制，同时也能为农作物的分子设计育种提供理论依据和基因资源。

The postembryonic growth and development, as well as the crop yields of the higher plants, all depend on the embryogenesis. The storage reserves accumulated in the late embryo during seed maturation are the basis of the plant postembryonic development and the main source of the human food. Therefore, the study of plant seed maturation has important theoretical significance and application value. Based on the preliminary findings, RNA-binding protein LSM plays important roles in the seed oil and seed storage protein accumulation. And the seed maturation of the lsm mutant showed severe defects and the lsm seeds are wrinkled. These findings suggested that LSM plays important roles on the embryogenesis during seed maturation stage. The present project intends to analysis the function of LSM in the seed maturation, the molecular and genetic mechanisms of the LSM in regulating the seed maturation, by comprehensively using the technology of the cell biology, molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry and seed biology, on the basis of the preliminary findings; and to screen and identify the interactional proteins and target genes of LSM through the methods of yeast two-hybrid, affinity purification, BiFC, RNA-Seq and so on; to elucidating the molecular network of the RNA-binding protein LSM-mediated post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression in the regulation of seed maturation. The final results obtained in the proposed research will clarify a novel mechanism regulating the plant seed maturation and provide the theoretical basis and genetic resource for molecular breeding of crops.