Temperature dependent modulation of plant heat stress transcription factor activities by alternative splicing

植物的热应激反应是一种复杂的现象，涉及许多细胞过程的大规模重组。热应激转录因子(HSF)驱动应激相关蛋白的上调，这些蛋白对生存和从应激中恢复至关重要。在逆境反应的不同阶段，Hsf的活性受到多水平调控机制的影响，包括转录丰度的调节、蛋白质复合体的形成和蛋白质的降解。最近的结果表明，前-mRNA剪接也影响应激过程中的丰度和Hsf。该项目旨在破译所观察到的选择性剪接与Hsf丰度和活性的功能相关性，以及与胁迫相关的选择性剪接过程的分子细节。该项目的重点是确定基因的特定功能，如顺式元件和RNA结构，以及剪接因子，涉及温度特定的前-mRNA剪接。除了Hsf外，还将研究选择性剪接对转录组变化的全球影响及其与植物抵御高温胁迫能力的关系。番茄(Solanum Lycopersicum)被用作模式生物，因此我们预计，这些发现将有助于开发新的工具来改良现有种质资源的耐热性。

Heat stress response in plants is a complex phenomenon involving massive re-organization of many cellular processes. Heat stress transcription factors (Hsf) drive the upregulation of stress-related proteins which are vital for survival and recovery from stress. The activity of Hsfs is subjected to multilevel control mechanisms during different phases of stress response, including regulation of transcript abundance, protein complex formation and protein degradation. Recent results suggest that pre-mRNA splicing affects the abundance and Hsfs during stress as well. This project aims to decipher the functional relevance of the observed alternative splicing on the abundance and activity of Hsfs as well as the molecular details of the process of stress-related alternative splicing. The project focuses on the identification of gene-specific features like cis-elements and RNA structure as well as splicing factors that are involved in temperaturespecific pre-mRNA splicing. Beyond Hsfs, the global effect of alternative splicing on transcriptome changes and its relation to the capacity of plants to withstand high temperature stress will be investigated. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is used as model organism and therefore we foresee that the findings will foster the development of new tools for improvement of the current germplasm in terms of heat stress tolerance.