Artificial feedback technology to understand the genetic redundancy

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K19037
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 37:Biomolecular chemistry and related fields
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Ueda Minoru 東北大学, 理学研究科, 教授 (60265931)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-07-09 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 植物ホルモン / ジャスモン酸 / 受容体 / ゼニゴケ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We have achieved chemical synthesis of phytohormones of Marchantia polymorpha, and have also obtained the gene for the Marchantia MpCOI1, which was successfully expressed heterologously using an insect cell culture system. We have also established an in vitro experimental system to confirm the affinity of the chimeric receptor MpCOI1-AtJAZ, consisting of these proteins, with the plant hormone of the common glasswort by fluorescence anisotropy. The results showed that, as expected, the zeren moss phytohormone formed a complex of MpCOI1-AtJAZ and ligand with only some of the 13 JAZ subtypes. This completed the proof-of-concept experiment in an in vitro system.
Subsequently, a transgenic plant with the chimeric receptor MpCOI1-AtJAZ was adjusted by introducing the MpCOI1 gene into a coi1-1 mutant strain of Arabidopsis thaliana. Selection of homozygotes is currently underway, and upon completion, we plan to proceed with “Artificial Throwback (ATB)” experiments in individual plants.

Free Research Field

天然物ケミカルバイオロジー

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

植物のほとんどの生理機能は植物ホルモンによって制御されており、その進化的起源から複雑な植物ホルモンシグナル伝達ネットワークを解明する試みが盛んである。ジャスモン酸イソロイシン（A-Ile）は、植物の病原菌感染耐性や虫による食害への防御応答など、魅力的な作用をもつ植物ホルモンである。高等植物では、JA-Ile受容体が冗長的に機能し、それぞれ異なる生物応答を制御している。一方、始原陸上植物ゼニゴケのMpCOI1-MpJAZ共受容体ペアは1種類のみであり、進化の過程で遺伝的冗長性が発生した。本研究は、天然物化学と分子進化遺伝学をハイブリッドさせた「人工的先祖返り」戦略により、この謎の解明に挑戦した。