Establishing a core signaling mechanism for the multi-functional FERONIA receptor kinase

这项研究的最终目标是了解植物即使在不利的环境条件下如何生长、发育和茁壮成长，从而潜在地增强社会确保可持续农业生产力和生态平衡的能力。为了实现研究目标，由本科生、博士后和博士后助理组成的学生团队将接受培训，以开展一系列项目，重点放在一种名为费洛尼亚的细胞膜分子上，这种分子已知在植物生长和生存的不同方面发挥关键作用。这些项目将为他们提供生物化学、细胞生物学和分子生物学方面的培训，这些是细胞和有机体如何运作的基础，这将增强他们成为教师和研究人员的能力。将向STEM的教师提供与该项目有关并与高中实验室兼容的动手接触实验的讲习班，他们还将得到进一步的指导，以鼓励将一些材料纳入他们的课堂练习或讨论中。与研究领域相关的主题将被纳入一项培养科学写作技能的教学工作中，以告知公众。这些活动应共同拓宽社会培养未来科学家的渠道，并提高公众对科学研究过程及其产品的重要性的认识。此外，费洛尼亚在植物物种中受到保护；该项目产生的知识和研究材料应激发人们对重要农业作物的兴趣和促进类似的调查，并努力确保植物在其原生生境中蓬勃生长，包括在恶劣条件下，从而有可能影响诸如粮食生产和可持续生态等全球问题。该奖项支持的研究重点是了解来自模式植物拟南芥的Feronia如何控制对植物生长、发育和应对环境压力至关重要的一系列广泛过程。费洛尼亚属于一类被称为受体激酶的分子，它们在感知细胞外的变化并翻译这些信号以刺激细胞对传入信号的适当反应方面发挥着关键作用。虽然受体激酶在植物中的重要性早已被大量的研究所证实，但费洛尼亚所发挥的不同功能是惊人的，它是如何完成的仍然令人困惑。该项目的目标是确定费洛尼亚如何协调执行其功能所需的生化和细胞生物学过程的复杂网络。特别是，该项目试图阐明能够作为枢纽的核心信号转导途径，与各种FER调节的过程可能整合在一起。这一核心途径被称为FER/LLG-ROPgef-Rac/ROP，由费洛尼亚受体激酶、其功能伙伴、锚定在细胞膜上的脂类修饰蛋白LLG1以及它们的直接细胞靶标ROPgef组成，后者激活关键的细胞质信号分子Rac/ROP GTP酶。生化和基于显微镜的实验将在正常生长条件下生长的植物中进行，当受到环境生长调节信号的挑战时，一种名为RALF1的小肽激素。实验旨在研究这些分子是如何相互作用的，这些相互作用的细胞和分子后果，以及它们如何共同导致受费洛尼亚调控的各种植物生长反应。总而言之，这项研究的结果应该会为费洛尼亚如何调节其不同的功能角色的机制基础提供洞察力，从而进一步加深我们对有机体为生长和生存所采用的策略的了解。

The ultimate goal of the research is to understand how plants grow, develop and thrive even when under adverse environmental conditions, thus potentially augmenting society's ability to ensure sustainable agricultural productivity and ecological balance. To accomplish the goals of the research, a team of students comprised of undergraduates, doctoral students and postdoctoral associates will be trained to carry out a range of projects focused on a cell membrane located molecule, called FERONIA, known to play key roles in diverse aspects of plant growth and survival. These projects will provide them with training in biochemistry, cell biology and molecular biology, the basics of how cells and organisms function, which will enhance their ability to emerge as teachers and researchers. Workshops offering hands-on exposure to experiments related to the project and compatible to a high school laboratory will be offered to teachers in STEM who will also be offered further mentoring to encourage incorporation of some of the materials into their classroom exercises or discussions. Topics related to the research area will be incorporated into a teaching effort that fosters skills in science writing to inform the public. Together these activities should broaden society's pipeline for future scientists as well as improve public awareness of the scientific inquiry process and the importance of its products. Moreover, FERONIA is conserved among plant species; the knowledge and research materials generated by this project should stimulate interest and facilitate similar inquiries in agriculturally important crops and in efforts to ensure vibrant growth of plants in their native habitats, including under harsh conditions, thus with the potential to impact global issues such as food production and a sustainable ecology. Research supported by this award focuses on understanding how FERONIA, from the model plant Arabidopsis, controls a broad array of processes critical for plant growth, development and coping with environmental stresses. FERONIA belongs to a class of molecules called receptor kinases, which play key roles in sensing changes outside the cell and translating these signals to stimulate cellular responses appropriate for the incoming signals. Although the importance of receptor kinases has long been established in plants by voluminous research, the diverse functional roles carried out by FERONIA is striking and how it is accomplished remains puzzling. The goal of this project is to determine how FERONIA orchestrates what must be a complex network of biochemical and cell biological processes needed to execute its functions. In particular, the project seeks to elucidate a core signal transduction pathway capable of serving as a hub with which the various FER-regulated processes might be integrated. This core pathway, referred to as FER/LLG-ROPGEF-RAC/ROP, is comprised of FERONIA receptor kinase, its functional partner, a lipid-modified protein anchored on the cell membrane called LLG1, and their immediate cellular target ROPGEF, which activates key cytoplasmic signaling molecules, called RAC/ROP GTPases. Biochemical and microscopy-based experiments will be carried out in plants grown under normal growth conditions and when challenged by an environmental growth regulatory signal, a small peptide hormone called RALF1. Experiments are designed to examine how these molecules interact, the cellular and molecular consequences of these interactions and how they together might lead to various plant growth responses regulated by FERONIA. Together, results from this research should provide insight towards the mechanistic underpinning of how FERONIA mediates its diverse functional roles whereby furthering our knowledge about strategies employed by organisms for growth and survival.