The goal of the project is to identify a network of genes that are nitrogen responsive and are involved in seed development. This project will integrate development and metabolism networks to better understand how metabolism influences development and vice versa. The project will generate microarray data from Arabidopsis seeds and siliques, with or without treatment with nitrogen and carbon, and from two different stages of seed development. The microarray data will be stored and analyzed using an integrated database called VirtualDB. VirtualDB will also store functional annotations from several other resources, such as Kegg and GO (Gene Ontology). The integrated nature of VirtualDB will allow us to make complex queries which will provide biological insight into our microarray results. We can visualize our network of nitrogen induced genes involved in seed development by using tools such as Cytoscape. A list of candidate genes will be created, based on the gene's functions and positions in the network, and then will be validated using mutant analysis. The mutant, either a gene knockout or an overexpression vector, will be analyzed via microarray experiments using RNA extracted from siliques and/or seeds.
| Katari, Manpreet S; Nowicki, Steve D; Aceituno, Felipe F et al. (2010) VirtualPlant: a software platform to support systems biology research. Plant Physiol 152:500-15 |
