U.S.-Netherlands Cooperative Research on the Role of Phyto- chrome in the Regulation of Mitosis in Pea Epicotyls

9313805 Roux该奖项支持德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的Stanley J.Roux教授和博士后Gregory Clark博士与荷兰瓦格宁根农业大学植物生理系的Richard E.Kendrick教授合作开展植物学研究。他们的研究目的是更好地理解光诱导豌豆细胞核数增加的原因，这是鲁克斯教授和克拉克博士最近发现的一种现象。他们与肯德里克教授和他所在机构的其他人一起，采用多学科方法研究色素光敏色素在刺激有丝分裂中假定作用的生化基础。特别是，他们正在探索这种作用是否通过GTP结合蛋白来调节。他们的研究依赖于这两个小组的互补专业知识。肯德里克博士是光敏色素生理和光生物学方面研究的世界领先者，也是光敏色素反应的G蛋白中介研究的先驱。他所在机构的其他人将贡献植物发育的细胞学和形态方面的专业知识。罗博士在光敏色素的生物化学方面做了大量工作，是光敏色素调控的酶方面的专家。这项研究测试了一个重要的问题，即光敏色素是否可以调节有丝分裂，以及这种调节是否需要GTP结合蛋白的中介。对这种影响的验证将有助于解释光敏色素对豌豆胚芽发育的戏剧性影响，并将在光形态发生过程中光敏色素控制的一系列事件中具有至关重要的补充作用。验证GTP结合蛋白作为媒介的作用将是一个同样重要的发现，不仅对植物科学，而且对一般的细胞生物学来说，因为对细胞核中GTP结合蛋白的调控几乎一无所知。***

9313805 Roux This award supports Professor Stanley J. Roux of the University of Texas at Austin and Dr. Gregory Clark, a postdoctoral associate, to collaborate in developmental botany research with Professor Richard E. Kendrick of the Department of Plant Physiology, Wageningen Agricultural University, The Netherlands. The objective of their research is to gain a better understanding of the cause of the light-induced increase in the nuclear number among pea cells, a phenomenon which was recently discovered by Professor Roux and Dr. Clark. Together with Professor Kendrick and others at his institution, they are taking a multidisciplinary approach to studying the biochemical basis for the postulated role of the pigment phytochrome in the stimulation of mitosis. In particular, they are exploring whether this role is mediated through GTP-binding proteins. Their research depends on the complementary expertise of the two groups. Dr. Kendrick is a world leader in the physiological and photobiological aspects of phytochrome research and a pioneer on studies of G-protein mediation of phytochrome responses. Others in his institution will contribute expertise in the cytological and morphological aspects of plant development. Dr. Roux has worked extensively on biochemical aspects of phytochrome, and is an expert on enzymes regulated by phytochrome. This research tests the important question of whether phytochrome can regulate mitosis and whether this regulation requires the mediation of GTP-binding proteins. Verification of this influence will help explain the dramatic effects of phytochrome on pea plumule development and will represent a critically important addition to the impressive list of events controlled by phytochrome during photomorphogenesis. Verification of a role for GTP-binding proteins as mediators would be an equally important finding, not only for plant sciences but for cell biology in general, for almost nothing is known about the regulation of GTP -binding proteins in nuclei. ***