Analysis of the autonomous distributed control of signal transduction via the vascular system in plants

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project Area: Integrative system of autonomous environmental signal recognition and memorization for plant plasticity
• Project/Area Number: 15H05958
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Research in a proposed research area)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Review Section: Biological Sciences
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: FUKUDA Hiroo 東京大学, 大学院理学系研究科(理学部), 特任教授 (10165293)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 遠藤 求 京都大学, 生命科学研究科, 准教授 (80551499)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-06-29 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 植物生理 / 環境応答 / 細胞間シグナル

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Plants can survive under various environment conditions by responding finely to different local environmental stresses and keeping integrity as an individual. For this purpose, plants have a long-distance transport system by which local environmental signals are transported to various parts adequately. To understand this mechanism, we studied two major themes; 1) roles of CLE peptides as mediators of environmental stresses and their mechanisms, and 2) A role of vascular tissues as a long-distance transport system of local signals. As a result, we succeeded in indicating the involvement of CLE peptides in various environment stresses and demonstrating that a CLE peptide regulates stomatal closure as a mediator under drought stress. In addition, we established a method visualizing xylem signal transport, by which we revealed that nature of xylem cell walls are involved in spatiotemporal regulation of signal transport.

Free Research Field

植物生理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

植物において、局所的環境シグナルの体全体へ輸送を時空間的に制御するしくみはほとんど明らかになっていない。本研究では、CLEペプチドが環境ストレスの仲介者として働くしくみ及び細胞壁の性質による維管束のシグナル運搬の規定を明らかにした。今後は、これらの新知見を応用することで、植物のバランスのとれた成長を人為的に制御する技術の開発が可能になると考えられる。