The role of expansion and functional divergence of gene family in the evolution of environmental stress responses in land plants

• Project/Area Number: 26891008
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Evolutionary biology
• Research Institution: Ochanomizu University
• Principal Investigator: YASUMURA YUKI お茶の水女子大学, 生命情報学教育研究センター, 助教 (20733893)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-08-29 – 2016-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2015)
• Budget Amount: ¥2,470,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥570,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000)
• Keywords: 植物 / 進化 / 植物ホルモン / シグナル伝達 / 環境ストレス応答 / 国際情報交換

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Plant stress responses are regulated by complex mechanisms in order for the appropriate responses to be induced as the environment changes. Such complicated regulatory mechanisms are sometimes brought about by duplicated genes that have acquired different function through evolution. Here we focus on two similar genes, which appeared to be involved in the ABA and ethylene signaling pathways, to find out whether they have functionally diverged after the duplication event. The results obtained through physiological and molecular studies both suggested that the two genes exerted different effects, despite the fact that they function within the same regulatory system, indicating a clear sign of functional divergence. This study provided a new insight into how plant stress responses may have diversified during the course of land plant evolution.

Research Products

• [Int'l Joint Research] Utrecht University(オランダ)
• [Int'l Joint Research] University of Oxford(英国)
• [Journal Article] An Ancestral Role for CONSTITUTIVE TRIPLE RESPONSE1 Proteins in Both Ethylene and Abscisic Acid Signaling (2015)
  • Author(s): Yasumura, Y., Pierik, R., Kelly, S., Sakuta, M., Voesenek, L. A. C. J., and Harberd, N. P.
  • Journal Title: Plant Physiology Volume: 169 Issue: 1 Pages: 283-298
  • DOI: 10.1104/pp.15.00233
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Presentation] ヒメツリガネゴケのCTR1はエチレン、ABA両シグナル伝達系に関与する (2015)
  • Author(s): Yasumura, Y. and Harberd, N.
  • Organizer: 日本植物学会第79回大会
  • Place of Presentation: 朱鷺メッセ：新潟コンベンションセンター
  • Year and Date: 2015-09-06