Award details

Investigation of the function of the PTPKIS protein phosphatase in the regulation of starch degradation in Arabidopsis leaves

Reference	BB/C512253/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor John Gatehouse
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	Durham University
Department	Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	63,686
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	01/05/2005
End date	30/04/2008
Duration	36 months

Abstract

The aims of this work are to discover the mechanism by which a protein phosphatase, AtPTPKIS, controls the rate of starch degradation in Arabisopsis leaves, and to establish whether it has a wider role in the coordination of primary metabolism. We have recently discovered that a mutation that severely restricts starch degradation in Arabidopsis leaves at night (at the sex4 locus) lies in the gene encoding PTPKIS. Previous work indicated strongly that PTPKIS interacts with SnRK1, a protein kinase believed to be a global regulator of primary metabolism and a central part of the sugar signalling pathway. We will establish the subcellular location of PTPKIS, then use sex4 mutant plants to discover 1) the step at which PTPKIS acts on the pathway of starch degradation, 2) whether PTPKIS acts solely on starch degradation or more widely on primary metabolism, 3) the mechanism of PTPKIS action. Our major approaches will be the creation of double mutant plants lacking PTPKIS and other enzymes of starch degradation, comparative transcriptomic analysis of sex4 and other single and double mutants, the identification of suppressor mutations that restore starch degradation in sex4 plants, and in vivo and in vitro methods to discover proteins that interact with PTPKIS. Joint with BB/C512337/1 and BB/C513542/1.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Plant & Microbial Sciences (PMS)
Research Topics	Plant Science
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

Associated awards:

BB/C513542/1 Investigation of the function of the PTPKIS protein phosphatase in the regulation of starch degradation in Arabidopsis leaves

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