Award details

Uncovering the control of leaf starch degradation

Reference	BBS/E/J/000CA544
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Alison Smith
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	John Innes Centre
Department	John Innes Centre Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	194,243
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/05/2014
End date	31/03/2017
Duration	34 months

Abstract

At night, maintenance and growth processes in the Arabidopsis plant are sustained by mobilisation of starch reserves acquired by photosynthesis during the previous day. Precise control of the rate of starch degradation, and its coordination with the demands of metabolism and growth, are essential for normal productivity. Using experimental and modelling approaches we have established that mobilisation is controlled by a mechanism that effectively arithmetically divides the time until dawn by the starch level to compute a linear rate that permits almost complete utilisation of reserves by dawn. We know that measurement of time until dawn is a function of the circadian clock, that starch granule numbers and properties are important for the mechanism, and that control operates on the pathway of starch degradation at a post-translational level, but most of the components of the mechanism are unknown. The aim of this project is to discover these components, using genetic approaches. We will: - Discover novel mutants defective in the control of starch degradation, by screening a “starvation reporter” mutant population. Plants emit luminescence when starch reserves have been exhausted. In initial work, this screen has already yielded mutants with novel starch degradation phenotypes. Identification of the mutated genes will reveal new components of the arithmetic division apparatus. - Further characterise selected existing mutants with interesting starch degradation phenotypes, as a basis for discovering new components of the arithmetic division mechanism. Characterisation of novel and existing mutants will include complementation of mutant plants with tagged, wild-type versions of the protein (for identification of interacting proteins), and with versions of the protein lacking key domains, and detailed analysis of starch granule numbers, sizes shapes and surface and matrix properties.

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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