Elucidating the interplay between two chromatin regulators HDA8 and ELP3 in dynamic control of primary and secondary metabolic networks

该项目将产生关于植物如何协调代谢网络以产生促进植物与环境相互作用的专门代谢物的知识，从吸引传粉者和种子传播者到保护自己免受生物和非生物胁迫。迄今为止，代谢网络如何调节以平衡维持基本功能和产生专门代谢物的需求在很大程度上仍然是未知的。该项目将阐明染色质调控机制，协调代谢网络产生挥发性次级代谢产物，通过测试的假设，即两个染色质调节器之间的相互作用控制通过初级和次级代谢途径的动态代谢通量。所获得的知识对农业和生态学具有实际意义，具有提高植物繁殖成功率、植物防御和胁迫反应、作物营养价值和高价值植物化学物质产量的潜力。该项目将为下一代科学家，包括少数民族和高中生，提供STEM研究方面的多学科培训。初步研究使用矮牵牛花作为模型系统导致的假设，组蛋白去乙酰化酶8（PhHDA 8）与组蛋白乙酰转移酶PhELP 3调节初级和次级代谢网络负责挥发性次级化合物的生物合成和排放。为了验证这一假设，将进行以下研究目标：（1）通过代谢谱确定PhHDA 8和PhELP 3对初级和次级代谢网络动力学的影响;（2）使用功能基因组学方法破译PhHDA 8和PhELP 3在初级和次级代谢网络中的全基因组靶标;（3）通过生物化学方法阐明PhHDA 8和PhELP 3活性协调的分子机制。这项工作将提供重要的机制洞察组蛋白乙酰化蛋白的作用模式和相互作用。所获得的知识将对理解染色质水平调节产生深远的影响，这些染色质水平调节是自然界中发现的化学多样性和植物中空气传播的基础。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will yield knowledge on how plants coordinate metabolic networks to produce specialized metabolites that facilitate plant interactions with their environment, ranging from attracting pollinators and seed dispersers to protecting themselves from biotic and abiotic stresses. To date, it remains largely unknown how metabolic networks are regulated to balance the needs for maintaining essential functions and producing specialized metabolites. This project will shed light on chromatin regulatory mechanisms that coordinate metabolic networks to produce volatile secondary metabolites, by testing the hypothesis that an interplay between two chromatin regulators controls the dynamic metabolic flux through primary and secondary metabolic pathways. The obtained knowledge has practical implications for both agriculture and ecology, with potential to improve plant reproductive success, plant defense and stress responses, crop nutritional value, and yield of high value phytochemicals. This project will provide multidisciplinary training for the next generation of scientists, including minorities and high school students, in STEM research. Preliminary studies using Petunia hybrida flowers as a model system led to the hypothesis that Histone deacetylase 8 (PhHDA8) works with the histone acetyltransferase PhELP3 to regulate primary and secondary metabolic networks responsible for the biosynthesis and emission of volatile secondary compounds. To test this hypothesis, the following research objectives will be performed: (1) determining the impact of PhHDA8 and PhELP3 on dynamics of primary and secondary metabolic networks via metabolic profiling; (2) deciphering the genome-wide targets of PhHDA8 and PhELP3 in primary and secondary metabolic networks using functional genomics approaches; and (3) elucidating the molecular mechanisms coordinating PhHDA8 and PhELP3 activities through biochemical approaches. This work will provide important mechanistic insights into the mode of action and interaction of histone acetylation proteins. The obtained knowledge will have a far-reaching impact on understanding chromatin level regulation underlying the chemical diversity found in nature and airborne communications in the plants.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.