Award details

Cytosolic invertases and the control of plant growth

Reference	BBS/E/J/000CA442
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Alison Smith
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Professor Trevor Wang
Institution	John Innes Centre
Department	John Innes Centre Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	140,273
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/11/2011
End date	31/10/2014
Duration	36 months

Abstract

The aim of this project is to discover why cytosolic isoforms of invertase are essential for plant growth. The project stems from our recent, unexpected discovery that cytosolic invertases are required for growth of Arabidopsis and Lotus plants, but sucrose synthases are not. In this project we will use the two species in three comparative, complementary, approaches: 1) characterisation of the properties of the cytosolic invertases, and localisation studies for each isoform. 2) examination of the phenotypes of mutants lacking isoforms of this enzyme by (a) comparative microarray analysis of Arabidopsis and Lotus mutants to identify transcriptional changes associated with the common phenotype, (b) analysis of changes in activities and protein levels of sucrose metabolising enzymes and (c) analysis of changes in levels of key sucrose catabolites and cell wall components. 3) tests of hypotheses concerning the severe consequences for growth of the loss of cytosolic invertases. The two alternatives are that loss of cytosolic invertase starves the plant of carbon required for normal growth and development, or that its loss causes incorrect sensing/signalling of carbon availability bringing about massive growth and developmental abnormalities. We will distinguish between these "starvation" and "signalling" hypotheses by examining the extent of complementation of the phenotype through expression of heterologous sucrose-metabolising enzymes, and by exploring the consequences of the mutations for sugar sensing via hexokinase, trehalose phosphate metabolism and phosphoinositide signalling. Further information will come from an untargetted approach in which the Arabidopsis mutant will be re-mutagenised and screened for faster-growing lines. This work will provide new information on sugar signalling and carbon partitioning and give significant insights into factors that control and limit plant productivity, of potential value in the development of high-yielding crops.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Not funded via Committee
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

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