CBL - Campus del Baix Llobregat

Projecte llegit

Títol: : Estudi del paper de les modificacions de proteïnes per SUMO en el desenvolupament de les plantes

Estudiant que ha llegit aquest projecte:

Tutor/Cotutor: LOZANO LUIS, LIDIA

Departament: DEAB

Títol: : Estudi del paper de les modificacions de proteïnes per SUMO en el desenvolupament de les plantes

Data inici oferta: 14-10-2022      Data finalització oferta: 14-05-2023

Estudis d'assignació del projecte:
    GR ENG SIS BIOLÒGICS

Lloc de realització:
EEABB

Paraules clau:
Arabidopsis, SUMO (Small-Ubiquitin Modifier), regulació proteines, factors de transcripció ERF

Descripció del contingut i pla d'activitats:
L'estudiant es formarà en els mecanismes moleculars implicats en
la regulació de proteïnes per modificacions postraduccionals,
específicament per conjugació de SUMO (Small-Ubiquitin Modifier),
i les seves implicacions en l'activitat de factors de
transcripció tipus ERF. Planificació i execució de l'experiment,
preparació de reactius, gestió de residus, elaboració de
lllibreta de laboratori, presentació de resultats en seminaris de
grup. Tècniques de genotipat per PCR i cultiu de plantes
d'Arabidopsis. Assajos de germinació i fenotipat.

Overview (resum en anglès): Plants, throughout their life cycle, are subjected to numerous challenges in development such as biotic or abiotic stress. Among different regulation and defense mechanisms of plants, the post-translational modification of proteins called SUMOylation is one of the most important. Although it is known that it is involved in several cellular functions (such as transcription, translation and genome stability) and in the organism (such as the response to different stresses), there are still many functions regulated by SUMOylation to be understood.

The present thesis focuses on the study of the importance of the SUMO conjugation-based regulation of three ethylene-responsive transcription factors (ERFs). ERFs take part in the ethylene-induced response aside from controlling plant development and stress response, and their activity can also be affected by SUMOylation. In this study, multiple tests have been conducted in order to analyze the possible phenotypic differences between Arabidopsis thaliana wild-type and overexpressed of the genes ERF2, ERF6 and ERF104 plants in their SUMOylated forms or not, and loss-of-function mutant plants for these genes. A phenotypic analysis has been carried out in both absence and presence of multiple types of stress such as saline, osmotic and the presence of ethylene or heavy metals.

The study has concluded that, in the absence of stress, ERF2, 6, 104 genes do not regulate either the plants development or its photosynthetic capacity. In contrast, under stress conditions, it has been proved that ERFs from this study played an important role. This is, these genes not having any effect on hypocotyl elongation due to ethylene exposure. On the other hand, in presence of heavy metals SUMOylation of ERF2 does not provide tolerance to copper, cadmium and boron. Moreover, SUMOylation of ERF6 and 104 only confers tolerance to copper. Also, SUMOylation of ERF104 negatively affects tolerance to cadmium. Finally, the previously mentioned ERFs did not appear to have any role in saline or osmotic stress tolerance.

© CBLTIC Campus del Baix Llobregat - UPC