Arabidopsis as a model system to study protein quality control
李建明
资深研究员
中国科学院上海植物逆境生物学研究中心
Abstract:
The physiological function of a given protein is determined by its structure, yet acquiring a correct three-dimensional structure is an error-prone process that often leads to accumulation of toxic misfolded proteins, a major cause of human diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Fortunately, eukaryotic cells are equipped with several protein quality control (QC) systems that recognize, repair, and/or remove misfolded proteins to maintain cellular protein homeostasis, including one in the endoplasmic reticulum (better known as ERQC). Most of our current knowledge on ERQC comes from biochemical and genetic studies in yeast and mammalian cells. Although ERQC is known to operate in plant cells, very little is known about its molecular components and its biochemical mechanism. Our recent studies demonstrated that the dwarf phenotype of two well-known Arabidopsis mutants, brassinosteroid-insensitive 1-5 (bri1-5) and bri1-9, are caused by ER retention and subsequent degradation of structurally-defective yet biochemically competent brassinosteroid receptor BRI1 that functions on the plasma membrane to initiate a phosphorylation-mediated signaling cascade critical for normal plant growth and development. Forward and reverse genetic studies with these two bri1 mutants resulted in identification of not only evolutionarily-conserved but also plant-specific components of an Arabidopsis ERQC system. The initial genetic discoveries and subsequent biochemical studies of these ERQC components in Arabidopsis will be presented at the meeting.
Time: June 6th 2017, 16:30-17:30 pm (Tuesday)
Venue: New Biology Building, Room 143
Host: Prof. Dong Liu
举办单位：生命科学联合中心
