Collaborative Research: Modeling the regulatory network of inositol phosphate signaling in plants

肌醇磷酸是一类化合物，在植物中被认为在感知（和提供）植物生长和发育的能量方面发挥作用。该项目的目标是了解肌醇磷酸如何用于感知植物细胞的能量状态，以及它们如何发出这种状态的信号，以便植物可以使用这些信息。从该项目中获得的知识与植物衍生生物能源（例如生物燃料）有关;它不仅将导致更好的理解，而且还将导致操纵和最大限度地利用生物能源以实现预期成果的战略，例如增加粮食和生物燃料的农业生产。该项目将为学生和博士后研究员提供植物科学、生物化学和生物工程方面独特的跨学科培训。外联活动将侧重于让高中生参与真实的科学探究，使用一个名为“使用植物的研究和教育伙伴关系”的既定计划，使用该项目产生的各种植物。项目人员还将通过为期4天的名为儿童科技大学的体验吸引小学生。该项目将利用生物化学，定义肌醇焦磷酸激酶蛋白质相互作用网络的遗传和计算建模方法（包括植物中的蔗糖非发酵相关激酶1和产生肌醇焦磷酸的VIP激酶）在植物拟南芥中的作用，并提供其在植物中感知和信号传递高或低能量状态中的作用的知识。

The inositol phosphates are a class of compound that in plants is thought to play a role in sensing (and making available) energy for the plant to grow and develop. The goal of this project is to understand how inositol phosphates are used to sense the energy status of plant cells, and how they signal this status so that the plant can use this information. The knowledge gained from this project is relevant to plant-derived bioenergy (e.g. biofuels); it will lead not just to an improved understanding but also to strategies to manipulate and maximize bioenergy for desired outcomes such as increased agricultural production of food and biofuels. The project will provide unique, interdisciplinary training in plant science, biochemistry and bioengineering for students and postdoctoral fellows. Outreach activities will focus on engaging high school students in authentic scientific inquiry with a variety of plants generated from this project, using an established program called the Partnership in Research and Education using Plants. Project personnel will also engage elementary students through a 4 day experience called Kids Tech University.This project will utilize biochemical, genetic and computational modeling approaches to define the inositol pyrophosphate kinase protein interaction network (which includes the sucrose non-fermenting related kinase 1 in plants and the VIP kinases that generate inositol pyrophosphates) in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana and provide knowledge of its role in sensing and signaling a high or low energy status in the plant.