Molecular mechanism of the elasticity of plant gene expression and signal transduction chains

植物基因表达和信号转导链弹性的分子机制

基本信息

批准号：
04257101
负责人：
NAGATA Toshiyuki
金额：
$ 23.36万
依托单位：
Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo
依托单位国家：
日本
项目类别：
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas
财政年份：
1991
资助国家：
日本
起止时间：
1991 至 1994
项目状态：
已结题

项目摘要

Plants have unique characteristics in various aspects in compared to animals, as they are composed of cells covered by thick cell walls. Plants cannot move in response to environmental changes, however, plants have developed characteristic strategy against environmental changes. This project was proposed to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying these unique characteristics. When the term of this project finished, we have had some confident results in some aspects as follows. First, we identified parB as one of auxin-regulated genes, which was found to encode glutathione S-transferase. This is the first case, in which any one of auxinregulated genes has been ascribed to apecific functions. We have also isolated acrA as another auxin-regulated gene, which was found to encode a beta-subunit-like protein of G proteins. This discovery opened new area, in which signal transduction chains mediated by protein kinase C are also involved in plant hormone-regulated phenomena, as the gene product of arcA is likely to be a receptor for activated C kinases. On the other hand, as for the signal transduction chains regarding phytopathogenic processes, a receptor for an elicitor was identified, while some aspects of phosphoinositide metabolisms was also elucidated. In this regard, regeneration of resistant plants against pathogenic fungi was also tried. It was also demonstrated that some specific gene product of virus genomes was involved in the acquisition of resistance of plants against virus infection. Thus, overall, this project attained some positive results in the field of plant molecular biology. As a kind of byproducts, tobacco BY-2 cells have been internationally recognized as model experimental materials in plants through the activity of researchers of this project, as it was established that the cell line grows very fast and can be synchronized in a strict sense and found to be useful for the analysis of basic aspects of plant cells.

与动物相比，植物在各个方面都有独特的特征，因为它们是由厚厚的细胞壁覆盖的细胞组成。植物无法响应环境变化而移动，但是，植物针对环境变化制定了特有的策略。该项目旨在阐明这些独特特征背后的分子机制。本项目期结束后，我们在以下几个方面取得了一些有信心的成果。首先，我们将 parB 鉴定为生长素调节基因之一，发现其编码谷胱甘肽 S-转移酶。这是第一个案例，其中任何一个生长素调节基因被归因于特定功能。我们还分离出了acrA作为另一个生长素调节基因，它被发现编码G蛋白的β亚基样蛋白。这一发现开辟了新的领域，其中蛋白激酶C介导的信号转导链也参与植物激素调节现象，因为arcA的基因产物很可能是激活的C激酶的受体。另一方面，对于与植物病原过程有关的信号转导链，鉴定了激发子的受体，同时还阐明了磷酸肌醇代谢的某些方面。在这方面，还尝试了针对病原真菌的抗性植物的再生。研究还表明，病毒基因组的某些特定基因产物参与了植物对病毒感染的抗性的获得。因此，总体而言，该项目在植物分子生物学领域取得了一些积极的成果。烟草BY-2细胞作为一种副产品，通过该项目研究人员的活动，已被国际公认为植物模型实验材料，因为已确定该细胞系生长速度非常快，并且可以在严格意义上同步，发现对于分析植物细胞的基本方面很有用。