Functional analysis of the skp1-like ASK gene family in arabidopsis

近年来，蛋白质周转对植物发育调控的重要性日益明显--主要是通过模式植物拟南芥的遗传和生化分析。这些研究已经确定蛋白质复合体(SCF复合体)是E3泛素连接酶，它们是花发育、致病、生长素介导的发育反应、蓝光感知和昼夜节律等多种功能的重要调节因子。鉴于最近有证据表明密切相关的ASK基因之间功能重叠，建议进行一项遗传学和生物化学相结合的研究，以探索在系统发育分析后聚集的基因之间的遗传冗余问题。我们假设，系统发育分支中的基因将表现出不同程度的遗传冗余和相应的分子功能。我们打算探索不同类型的功能丧失的ASK等位基因(例如T-DNA插入、快中子缺失、人工miRNA系)在拟南芥中公开或唯一可用的表型，以防止不同的等位基因表现出不同程度的遗传外显和由此产生的表型。我们预测，这些研究将为确定ASK基因的功能多样性提供宝贵的遗传资源，并为阐明ASK基因在调节植物形态和功能的分子机制中可能发挥的作用提供新的线索。

The importance of protein turnover for the regulation of plant development has become increasingly apparent in recent years - primarily through combined genetic and biochemical analyses in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. These studies have identified protein complexes (SCF complexes) as E3 Ubiquitin Ligases that are important regulators of such diverse functions as flower development, pathogenesis, auxin-mediated developmental responses, blue light sensing and circadian rhythm.Given recent evidence of functional overlap between closely related ASK genes, a combined genetic and biochemical study is proposed to explore issues of genetic redundancy among genes that cluster following phylogenetic analysis. We hypothesize that genes within phylogenetic clades will exhibit varying degrees of genetic redundancy and corresponding molecular function. We intend to explore the phenotypes of different classes of loss-of-function ask alleles available publicly or uniquely to us in Arabidopsis (e.g. T-DNA insertion, fast-neutron deletions, artificial-miRNA lines) against the likelihood that different alleles will exhibit different degrees of genetic penetrance and resulting phenotype. We predict these studies will provide valuable genetic resources with which to define the functional diversity of ASK genes, and to shed new light on the role that ASK genes may play in the molecular mechanisms that regulate plant form and function.