Biochemical and structure-function analysis of PIN proteins
Abstract
Biochemical characterisation and structure-function analysis of PIN auxin transport proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana Auxin is a major plant hormone that has to be properly transported and redistributed throughout the plant at all stages of a plant’s life cycle. The proteins involved in controlling and directing auxin distribution are thus key determinants of many aspects of plant growth, development and physiological responses. The PINs are a family of integral membrane proteins that play a crucial role in the export of auxin from cells, but the actual mode of action by which they mediate or control auxin transport is unknown. As PINs show no significant homology to other proteins, the lack of experimental data on their molecular properties hampers progress in this field. The proposal aims to address this gap in our knowledge by using biochemical approaches to elucidate some of the basic structural features of PIN proteins, such as determining membrane topology and investigating the occurrence of N-glycosylation as well as inter/intra-molecular disulfide bonds. Another objective is to isolate and characterise oligomeric forms of PINs, as oligomerisation is a feature that is integral to the mechanism of action of many membrane transporters and receptors. The biological significance of any identified structural features will be investigated by analysing their effects on PIN function in vivo. Overall, the data from this project should reveal some of the molecular features of PIN proteins, which will aid in the interpretation of past and future studies on the involvement of PINs in plant auxin distribution.
Publikationen
Project staff
Melinda Frances Anna Abas
Dr. Melinda Frances Anna Abas
melinda.abas@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-94025
Project Leader
28.09.2009 - 27.09.2014