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

ReferenceBBS/E/J/0000A223
Principal Investigator / Supervisor Professor Alison Smith
Co-Investigators /
Co-Supervisors
Institution John Innes Centre
DepartmentJohn Innes Centre Department
Funding typeResearch
Value (£) 132,900
StatusCompleted
TypeInstitute Project
Start date 17/10/2005
End date 16/10/2008
Duration36 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 Arabidopsis 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 and metabolomic analysis of sex4 and other 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.

Summary

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