Funktion des Arabidopsis TRAPPII Tethering-Komplexes bei der Protein-Sortierung im trans-Golgi-Netzwerk

• Antragstellerin: Professorin Farhah Assaad, Ph.D.
• Fachliche Zuordnung: Zell- und Entwicklungsbiologie der Pflanzen
• Förderung: Förderung von 2004 bis 2018
• Projektkennung: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 5441912

The KEULE and CLUB genes of Arabidopsis are specifically required for both cytokinesis and root hair morphogenesis. KEULE encodes a Sec1 protein. Sec1 proteins are key regulators of vesicle trafficking, capable of integrating a large number of intra and/or intercellular signals and of transducing such signals to the vesicle fusion apparatus by virtue of a direct interaction with syntaxins on target membranes. Our working model is that KEULE integrates developmental and environmental signals and transduces them to an as yet undefined syntaxin implicated in root hair development. While the mechanism of membrane fusion has been elucidated in neural and yeast cells, signal transduction pathways regulating vesicle traffic have yet to be elucidated. Genome analyses point to a great deal of novelty in the regulation of the secretory and cytoskeletal apparatus in plants. Our primary goal is to elucidate the signal transduction pathways that regulate polarized secretion during root hair growth. For this, KEULE, the only trafficking gene directly implicated in root hair growth to date, is an excellent entry point. We will identify KEULE-interacting proteins, including a putative root hair-specific syntaxin. We will clone and characterize the novel CLUB locus, as this will provide a second entry point into the same process as KEULE. Together with the in vivo imaging and chemical genetic tools we are developing, the proposed approaches will undoubtedly open up new avenues of research that will be further our understanding of the regulation of targeted secretion and plant growth.

• DFG-Verfahren: Sachbeihilfen
• Kooperationspartnerinnen / Kooperationspartner: Privatdozentin Dr. Cordelia Bolle; Professor Dr. Pascal Falter-Braun; Professor Dr. Bernhard Küster; Privatdozent Dr. Rainer Pepperkok