Project Details
Projekt
Appearance and role of CuZnSOD proteins during early land plant evolution
Applicant
Dr. Jozefus Hendrikus Maria Schippers
Subject Area
Plant Cell and Developmental Biology
Term
since 2020
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 440296213
Copper Zinc Superoxide Dismutase (CuZnSOD) proteins appeared around the time of the Great Oxidation Event around 2.4 billion years ago. In higher plants three compartment specific proteins are present, namely a cytosolic, plastidic and peroxisomal protein, of which the cytosolic form appears to have evolved first since it is already present in the freshwater algea Chara braunii. We found that the cytosolic form in Arabidopsis is essential for embryogenesis and that the CSD1 protein has two functions: on the one hand as an antioxidant enzyme and on the other as a nuclear transcriptional regulator. The appearance of CuZnSOD in freshwater algae indicate that it might represent an early molecular adaptation to enable the transition to land. Here we aim at revealing the role of CuZnSOD during embryogenesis and the regulation of abiotic stress tolerance in early land plants by modulating phenylpropanoid metabolism. We focus on Marchantia polymorpha and Physcomitrella patens to unravel the dual role of the cytosolic CuZnSOD during plant terrestrialization.
DFG Programme
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