Escrt-Dependent Trafficking Mechanisms in Plants

该项目旨在了解植物内体蛋白如何控制质膜蛋白的运输和降解，包括受体，通道和某些细胞壁生物合成酶。ESCRT（运输所需的内体分选复合物）是多聚体蛋白质复合物，其特异性识别和分选需要运输到液泡进行降解的那些质膜蛋白。这些研究的完成将阐明植物内体系统的功能方面。有强有力的证据表明，植物内体系统的组织和功能与酵母或动物中的对应物不同。事实上，植物具有在其他生物体中没有直系同源物的内体组分。该项目还将分析内体运输在植物生命各个方面的作用，如发育，细胞类型特化，细胞壁重塑，信号转导和激素运输。更广泛的影响该项目将对教育和推广产生影响。PI目前在威斯康星州大学教授两门本科和两门研究生课程。一个来自科学界代表性不足的群体的研究生已经在从事这个项目。国家的最先进的成像技术的应用也将是重要的教育，因为PI致力于开发研讨会细胞生物学和细胞成像的本科生和研究生在校园的植物成像中心的教育活动的一部分，在植物系，威斯康星州大学，这是最初由NSF基金支持。 此外，PI的小组提供了在这项研究中获得的共聚焦和电子断层扫描图像，用于在校园内新的威斯康星州发现研究所的城镇中心的显微镜和成像发现利基展示。

INTELLECTUAL MERITThis projects aims to understand how plant endosomal proteins control the trafficking and degradation of plasma membrane proteins, including receptors, channels, and certain cell wall biosynthetic enzymes. The ESCRTs (Endosomal Sorting Complex Required for Transport) are multimeric protein complexes that specifically recognize and sort those plasma membrane proteins that need to be transported to the vacuole for degradation. The completion of these studies will clarify the functional aspects of the plant endosome system. There is strong evidence suggesting that the organization and function of the plant endosomal system is different from their counterparts in yeast or animals. In fact, plants have endosomal components with no orthologs in other organisms. This project will also analyze the roles of endosomal trafficking in various aspects of plant life, such as development, cell type specification, cell wall remodeling, signal transduction, and hormone transport. BROADER IMPACTSThe project will have impact on education and outreach. The PI is currently teaching two undergraduate and two graduate courses in the University of Wisconsin. One graduate student from an under-represented group in science is already working on this project. The application of state-of-the-art imaging techniques will be also important for education, since the PI is committed to develop workshops on cell biology and cell imaging for undergraduate and graduate students across campus as part of the educational activities of the Plant Imaging Center in the Department of Botany-University of Wisconsin, which was initially supported by NSF funds. In addition, the PI's group provides confocal and electron tomography images obtained in this study for display at the microscope and imaging discovery niche in the Town Center of the new Wisconsin Institute of Discovery on campus.