Thioredoxin as an Initiator of Germination and Seedling Development

该项目的总体目标是提高我们对种子发芽的理解，特别是对谷物的理解。在小麦和大麦中，一种普遍存在的调节蛋白硫氧还蛋白似乎在萌发早期触发碳和氮的动员中起重要作用。目前的证据表明，硫氧还蛋白通过三种方式发挥作用：(1)减少主要的储存蛋白，从而增加它们对蛋白酶的易感性；(2)通过激活一种蛋白酶，硫氧还蛋白，这种蛋白酶对被硫氧还蛋白还原的储存蛋白本身具有特异性；(3)通过减少并使抑制影响碳水化合物分解的单个酶的二硫蛋白失活。本研究的目标是完成我们的项目：(1)在我们早期nsf支持的研究中发现的抑制普鲁兰酶的蛋白质，普鲁兰酶是一种在萌发过程中负责分解淀粉的酶，(2)小麦发育过程中发生的蛋白质氧化还原变化。

9604264 Buchanan The overall goal of this project is to enhance our understanding of seed germination with particular reference to cereals. In both wheat and barley, a ubiquitous regulatory protein, thioredoxin, appears to play an important role in triggering mobilization of carbon and nitrogen during early stages of germination. Current evidence indicates that thioredoxin exerts its effect in three ways: (1) by reducing major storage proteins thereby increasing their susceptibility to proteases; (2) by activating a protease, thiocalsin, that is specific for the storage proteins themselves reduced by thioredoxin; and (3) by reducing and thereby inactivating disulfide proteins that inhibit individual enzymes which affect carbohydrate breakdown. The goals of the present study are to complete our projects on (1) the protein found in our earlier NSF-supported research to inhibit pullulanase, an enzyme responsible for breaking down starch during germination, and (2) protein redox changes occurring during development of wheat.