A defining, and perpetually intriguing, feature of plants is their ability to thrive in highly dynamic and oftentimes stressful environments. However, many molecular mechanisms used by plants to increase resiliency under challenging conditions are unknown. This work investigates how the cell cycle and co-regulated nuclear processes are directly altered in response to external cues so that growth is optimized. Knowledge generated by this work can be applied to future crop development in a world impacted by climate change. This project will provide training opportunities and support for undergraduate students carrying out independent research projects. Funds will also support development of course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), which will offer students in classes the opportunity to meaningfully engage with authentic research experiences. Students participating in CUREs tend to: 1) be more highly engaged and have positive views of science and lab work, 2) have a deeper understanding of the scientific process, and 3) have higher retention rates in the sciences. Importantly, CUREs make classes more inclusive and increase success by multiple measures for students of historically underrepresented groups. These authentic research experiences will be integrated into the lab portion Genetics classes at the University of Puget Sound and Survey of Biology classes taught at the Washington Corrections Center for Women as part of the Freedom Education Project Puget Sound (FEPPS), a college degree-granting prison education program. College-level prison education reduces recidivism by 43% and provides pathways to employment and/or further education after release.
The endocycle, an alternative cell cycle where the nuclear genome replicates but the cell does not divide, increases plant fitness under stress and can be triggered by the environment. Little is known about mechanisms used by plants for stress-triggered endocycle entry, although the anaphase promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) promotes this switch. This work investigates endocycle entry by action of F-BOX STRESS INDUCED 1 (FBS1), a stress-inducible substrate adaptor in the ubiquitin 26S proteasome system (UPS) that selects protein targets for degradation. Preliminary data show that FBS1 interacts with multiple putative targets: 1) APC8, a core subunit of the APC/C, and 2) two WD40 repeat-like family proteins, which have been named FBS1 INTERACTING PROTEINs (FBIPs). This work investigates the hypothesis that FBS1 coordinates a stress-response by targeting APC8 (possibly a post-translationally modified form) and FBIPs for degradation. Molecular genetic approaches will lead to understanding of how FBS1 affects the cell cycle and plants under stress, and it will establish the biological roles of FBIPs. This work will establish in vivo protein interaction dynamics between FBS1 and its partners, and it will establish whether APC8 and FBIPs are true ubiquitylation targets in stress responses. Collectively, this project will lead to greater understanding of how plants use the UPS to induce plasticity in the cell cycle and co-occurring processes to match cellular processes with environmental conditions.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
