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

肌醇磷酸盐是一类化合物，在植物中被认为在植物生长和发育的感知（和获取）能量方面发挥作用。这个项目的目标是了解磷酸肌醇是如何被用来感知植物细胞的能量状态的，以及它们是如何发出这种状态的信号，以便植物可以利用这些信息。从该项目中获得的知识与植物来源的生物能源（例如生物燃料）有关；它不仅会提高人们对生物能源的理解，而且还会制定策略，以操纵和最大化生物能源，以实现预期的结果，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提供独特的、跨学科的植物科学、生物化学和生物工程培训。推广活动的重点是利用一个名为“植物研究与教育伙伴关系”的既定计划，利用该项目产生的各种植物，让高中生参与真正的科学探究。项目人员还将与小学生进行为期四天的“儿童科技大学”体验。该项目将利用生化、遗传和计算建模方法来定义拟南芥中肌醇焦磷酸激酶蛋白相互作用网络（包括植物中蔗糖非发酵相关激酶1和产生肌醇焦磷酸的VIP激酶），并提供其在植物高能量或低能量状态的传感和信号传导中的作用。

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.