FSML- Improvements to El Verde Station, Puerto Rico

温度胁迫对植物来说是一个独特且不断升级的问题，因为它们是环境的固定俘虏。植物，像所有其他生物一样，通过热休克蛋白的特定表达来应对温度的升高。这些蛋白质是植物对包括高温在内的许多压力产生耐受性反应所必需的。然而，这些蛋白在抗逆性中的具体功能在很大程度上是未知的。通过反义技术降低热休克蛋白Hsp17.7的表达，初步证实了该蛋白在耐热性中的作用。这些实验将研究为什么表达反义Hspl7.7 mRNA的植物耐热性较差，并为植物耐热性的整体过程提供见解。反义Hspl7.7植物的Hspl7.7及其他非相关的Hspl7.7水平显著降低。这种情况发生的潜在分子机制将通过使用基因特异性探针和特异性抗体对mRNA和蛋白质水平进行定量分析来解决。分析将集中在转录，翻译和蛋白质加工和周转在转基因和对照细胞的过程。此外，Hsp17.7的潜在伴侣功能将使用标准测定法进行评估。

Temperature stress poses a unique and escalating problem to plants since they are immobile captives of the environment. Plants, like all other organisms, respond to increasing temperature by the specific expression of heat shock proteins. These proteins are essential for the plant to mount a tolerance response to many stresses including higher temperatures. However the specific functions of these proteins in stress tolerance is largely unknown. Preliminary experiments have demonstrated a role for one specific and prominent heat shock protein, Hsp17.7, in thermotolerance, by using antisense technology to decrease the expression of this protein. The proposed experiments will investigate why the plants expressing an antisense version of Hspl7.7 mRNA are less thermotolerant and should provide insight into the overall process of plant thermotolerance. Antisense Hspl7.7 plants show dramatic decreases in the levels of Hspl7.7 as well as other non-related Hsps. The underlying molecular mechanisms by which this occurs will be addressed by quantitative analysis of mRNA and protein levels using gene specific probes and specific antibodies. The analysis will focus on the processes of transcription, translation and protein processing and turnover in transgenic and control cells. In addition, the potential chaperone function of Hsp17.7 will be assessed using standard assays.