Crops and Soils - Light control of protein translation and plant biomass

植物天生就是塑料有机体。它们的总体身体规划是遗传编码的，但植物结构可以被修改，以适应周围的环境。从这个意义上说，外部信号，如光，对植物的生长和发育方式有深远的影响，最终影响植物的适应性、抗病能力和生产力。生长可塑性在暴露在植被遮荫下的叶片中尤为明显。PhyB感光器探测到附近植物的接近，然后调节叶片的生长和生理，以确保在竞争中生存。这个项目建立在韩礼德实验室最近的发现基础上，这些发现极大地扩展了我们对PhyB如何在树叶中运作的理解。PhyB目前被认为通过操纵植物激素途径来促进叶片的伸长。我们未发表的数据表明，PhyB在调节叶细胞分裂机制、核糖体生物发生和翻译方面发挥了新的作用，这些都是植物生物量的关键贡献者。总之，这些发现为理解和询问PhyB功能提供了一个新的概念框架。

Plants are inherently plastic organisms. Their general body plan is genetically encoded, but plant architecture can be modified to adjust to the environment that surrounds it. In this sense, external cues, such as light, have a profound effect on the way a plant grows and develops, ultimately affecting a plant's fitness, disease resistance and productivity. Growth plasticity is particularly pronounced in leaves that are exposed to vegetation shade. Proximity of nearby plants is detected by the phyB photoreceptor, which then adjusts leaf growth and physiology to ensure survival in the face of competition. This project builds on recent discoveries in the Halliday lab, that significantly expand our understanding of how phyB operates in the leaf. phyB is currently thought to promote leaf elongation by manipulating plant hormone pathways. Our unpublished data point to a novel role for phyB in regulating the leaf cell division machinery, ribosome biogenesis and translation, key contributors to plant biomass. Collectively, these findings provide a new conceptual framework to understand and interrogate phyB function.