Interacting Partners of the SUNN Symbiotic Regulatory Kinase

两个生物体之间的共生关系会消耗每个生物体的资源，以换取它们从共生关系中获得的利益;因此，它们受到双方的严格调控。 在豆科植物M.蒺藜和它的细菌伙伴，一个主要的植物调节共生固氮根瘤的数量，形成是一种蛋白质称为SUNN。 SUNN系统地调节相互作用（在整个植物中），因此必须通过尚未鉴定的其他蛋白质进行交流调节。 该项目解决了什么蛋白质与SUNN相互作用的问题，采取了创建工具来回答这个问题的关键第一步。 研究人员将创建一种携带SUNN版本的植物，该植物带有一个标签，以便从整个植物中检索SUNN和相互作用的蛋白质进行分析。 该标签是一小段蛋白质，商业抗体可供使用，使研究人员能够通过标准技术分离SUNN，然后识别相互作用的伴侣蛋白。 研究人员将通过一种称为互补的遗传技术证明这种标记的蛋白质的行为与正常版本的SUNN相似，其中将标记的SUNN置于没有SUNN蛋白的突变植物中，使突变植物恢复正常。 由于豆类占人类蛋白质摄入量的33%，是动物饲料和草料的重要来源，也是食用油和工业用油的来源，因此了解调节豆类共生的信号传导将使科学家能够制定战略，以保持土壤质量和可持续性，同时长期保护环境，降低食品和生物燃料生产的成本。 本科生，包括代表性不足的群体的成员，将作为该项目的一部分进行培训，并将通过现有的计划每年招募。

Symbiotic associations between two organisms cost each organism resources in exchange for the benefits they receive from the association; thus they are tightly regulated by both partners. In the case of the relationship between the legume plant M. truncatula and its bacterial partner, a major plant regulator of the number of symbiotic nitrogen-fixing nodules that form is a protein called SUNN. SUNN regulates the interaction systemically (throughout the plant) and thus must communicate regulation through other proteins not yet identified. This project addresses the question of what proteins interact with SUNN by taking the critical first step of creating a tool to answer the question. The investigators will create a plant carrying a version of SUNN with a tag to allow retrieval of SUNN and interacting proteins from whole plants for analysis. The tag is a short piece of protein for which commercial antibodies are available, allowing the investigators to isolate SUNN through standard techniques and then identify the interacting partner proteins. The investigators will prove that this tagged protein behaves like the normal version of SUNN by a genetic technique called complementation, in which the tagged SUNN placed in a mutant plant with no SUNN protein restores the mutant plant to normality. Because legumes contribute to 33% of humankind's protein intake and serve as an important source of fodder and forage for animals as well as a source of edible and industrial oils, understanding the signaling involved in regulating legume symbiosis will allow scientists to develop strategies to maintain soil quality and sustainability while protecting the environment over the long term, reducing costs for food and biofuel production. Undergraduate students, including members of under-represented groups, will be trained as part of this project, and will be recruited every year through existing programs.