The role of sugar-responsive bZIP transcription factors in the regulation of the circadian oscillator of Arabidopsis

由于人口增长和环境变化，迫切需要了解调节作物产量的基本生物学。我们最近发现了一种新的途径，可以调节植物判断时间、正确平衡糖资源和生长的能力。我们已经发现细胞中的糖会加速生物钟，而低糖则会使生物钟运行得更慢。我们有证据表明，植物生物钟速度的变化对调节糖的消耗和储存之间的平衡很重要。我们的研究已经确定了一种蛋白质，这种蛋白质被称为BASIC LEUCINE ZIPPER63 (bZIP63)，它是正确控制糖对昼夜节律速度所必需的。我们将发现是否有其他bZIP蛋白调节生物钟，我们将发现由bZIP蛋白控制的基因表达变化，我们将弄清楚bZIP蛋白是如何调节基因表达从而调节生物钟的。最后，我们将发现由于bZIP蛋白调节生物钟而发生的植物生理和代谢变化。这些研究将开始解决bZIP63（植物对糖状态反应的调节因子，通常与饥饿反应有关）调控昼夜节律振荡器速度的原因。我们将解决这种糖敏感信号通路如何调节生物钟以优化植物的碳利用。这是研究生物钟的Alex Webb教授（英国剑桥）和bZIP转录因子和碳稳态专家Michel Vincentz教授（巴西坎皮纳斯）的合作成果。我们的工作是在模式植物拟南芥中进行的，研究结果将通过研究人员与工业合作伙伴的关系，以及通过申请人实验室正在进行的研究项目，转移给英国作物（如小麦）和巴西作物（如甘蔗）的育种者。

Due to population growth and changing environments there is an urgent need to understand the basic biology that regulates the yield of crop plants. We have recently discovered a new pathway that regulates the ability of plants to tell the time, balance sugar resources correctly and grow. We have discovered that cellular sugars speed up the circadian clock, whereas low sugars makes the circadian clock run more slowly. We have evidence that this change in the speed of the plant circadian clock is important in regulating the balance between consumption and storage of sugars. Our studies have identified a protein that is required for the correct control of circadian speed in response to sugars, this protein is called BASIC LEUCINE ZIPPER63 (bZIP63). We will discover if other bZIP proteins regulate the circadian clock, we will discover the changes in gene expression controlled by the bZIP proteins, we will work out how the bZIP proteins regulate gene expression and therefore the circadian clock. Lastly, we will discover the changes in plant physiology and metabolism that occur as a result of bZIP proteins regulating the circadian clock. These studies will begin to resolve why bZIP63, a regulator of the response of plants to sugar status, and often associated with starvation responses, regulates the speed of the circadian oscillator. We will resolve how this sugar-sensitive signalling pathway regulates the circadian clock to optimise carbon use in the plant. This is a collaboration between Prof Alex Webb (Cambridge, UK) who studies circadian clocks and Prof Michel Vincentz (Campinas, Brazil) an expert in bZIP transcription factors and carbon homeostasis. Our work is performed in the model plant Arabidopsis and findings will be transferred to breeders of UK crops, such as wheat, and Brazilian crops such as sugar cane, through relationships of the researchers with industrial partners, and through ongoing research programmes in the applicants' laboratories.