Role of the Plant Kinesin FRA1 in Constructing the Cell Wall

智慧价值：植物细胞被包裹在富含纤维素的壁中，该壁调节细胞生长并为植物身体提供机械支撑。细胞壁物质的沉积是有序发生的，这对细胞壁的组装和功能至关重要。位于质膜下的皮质微管细胞骨架对这一过程非常重要，被认为是定向沉积细胞壁材料的支架。皮质微管细胞骨架如何发挥这一功能尚不清楚。这个项目的重点是拟南芥马达蛋白Fra1，并将测试Fra1引导细胞壁生物合成机械的组件沿皮质微管移动，从而导致细胞壁有序沉积的假设。这一假设将通过以下几个方面得到验证：1)表征Fra1蛋白在活细胞中的运动；2)确定合成纤维素的蛋白质复合体是否与Fra1跟踪；以及3)鉴定与Fra1相互作用的蛋白质，以确定额外的Fra1马达蛋白。这些研究将极大地促进我们对细胞壁形成的理解，并将导致识别属于细胞壁生物合成机制一部分的新蛋白质/货物。1)该项目将包括本科生和研究生的培训以及博士后学者的指导。2)这个项目的工作将被纳入一门本科课程，旨在向学生介绍基于成像科学的研究。目标是让本科生对科学感到兴奋，并激励他们考虑从事科学事业。3)这个项目的工作将被纳入与圣路易斯科学院合作的未来之旅：科学职业探索计划。未来之旅计划是一项K-12计划，重点是未被充分代表的人群。具体地说，在这个项目中产生的五颜六色的图像和电影将被用来吸引中学生和教师群体进行适合年龄的演讲，以探索植物生物学的主题。这些演讲伴随着关于生物学职业选择的讨论，以及追求这些职业所必需的学术准备。此外，作为科学导师项目的一部分，实验室的学生和博士后将带领中学生/高中生实地考察实验室和其他部门的研究设施。其目标是让初中生/高中生接触到活跃的研究环境，并为研究生和博士后提供指导机会。4)由于细胞壁结构对植物生物质转化为生物燃料的影响很大，这项工作可能会为工程植物更高效地生产生物燃料提供新的思路。

Intellectual Merit.Plant cells are encased in a cellulose-rich wall that regulates cell growth and provides mechanical support to the plant body. The deposition of cell wall material happens in an orderly manner, which is critical for the assembly and function of the cell wall. The cortical microtubule cytoskeleton located beneath the plasma membrane is important to this process and is thought to act as a scaffold for the directional deposition of cell wall material. How the cortical microtubule cytoskeleton serves this function is not clear. This project focuses on the Arabidopsis motor protein FRA1 and will test the hypothesis that FRA1 guides the movement of components of the cell wall biosynthetic machinery along cortical microtubules, thus resulting in orderly cell wall deposition. This hypothesis will be tested by: 1) characterizing the movement of the FRA1 protein in living cells; 2) determining whether the protein complexes that synthesize cellulose track with FRA1; and 3) identifying FRA1-interacting proteins to define additional cargoes of the FRA1 motor protein. These studies will significantly advance our understanding of cell wall formation and will lead to the identification of novel proteins/cargoes that are part of the wall biosynthetic machinery.Broader Impacts. 1) This project will involve training of undergraduate and graduate students as well as mentoring of a postdoctoral scholar. 2) Work from this project will be incorporated into an undergraduate course that is designed to introduce students to research based on imaging sciences. The goals are to get undergraduates excited about science and to motivate them to consider a career in science. 3) Work from this project will be incorporated into the Future Trek: Science Careers Explorations program in collaboration with the Academy of Science of St. Louis. The Future Trek program is a K-12 initiative with an emphasis on under-represented populations. Specifically, the colorful images and movies generated in this project will be used to engage groups of middle-school students and teachers in age-appropriate presentations to explore topics in plant biology. These presentations are accompanied by discussions about career options in Biology and the academic preparation that is necessary to pursue these careers. In addition, students and postdocs in the lab will lead a field trip of the lab and other departmental research facilities for middle-school/high-school students as part of the Science Mentor Project. The goal is to expose middle-school/high-school students to an active research environment and to offer mentoring opportunities to graduate students and postdocs. 4) As cell wall structure greatly impacts the conversion of plant biomass into biofuels, this work might provide new ideas for engineering plants for more efficient biofuel production.