植物G蛋白与植物防卫反应

近年来, 植物G蛋白(包括异三聚体G蛋白和小G蛋白)的存在及其信号调控途径已经成为人们研究细胞信号转导过程的热点问题。从多种植物细胞中相继分离克隆出多个与动物G蛋白同源的编码植物G蛋白的基因, 并且植物G蛋白的种类和数量有其独特性。植物G蛋白在植物细胞跨膜信号转导中发挥重要的作用, 参与多种生命活动的调控。本文主要综述了植物G蛋白参与植物防卫反应调节作用的研究进展。     

植物基因工程改善生物质能利用的研究进展

利用植物木质纤维资源发酵生产乙醇越来越受到人们的重视,但是要实现工业化生产仍然存在很多难题。最近,利用植物基因工程技术,改善植物自身性状,包括减少植物自身细胞壁中木质素含量、细胞中积累表达纤维素酶和木聚糖酶等方法,使自生产生的生物质更利于降解利用。目前,对这种新的能源转基因植物的研究取得了一定进展。     

Plant ARGONAUTES

ARGONAUTE (AGO) proteins are integral players in all known small RNA-directed regulatory pathways. Eukaryotes produce numerous types of small RNAs, such as microRNAs (miRNA), small interfering RNAs (siRNA), PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), scanRNAs and 21U-RNAs, and these RNA species associate with different types of AGO family members, such as AGO, PIWI and group 3 proteins. Small RNA-guided AGO proteins regulate gene expression at various levels, including internal genomic DNA sequence elimination (in ciliates), translational repression (animals), and RNA cleavage (all eukaryotes), which in some cases is followed by DNA methylation and chromatin remodeling. The plant model species Arabidopsis contains ten AGO proteins belonging to three phylogenetic clades. This review covers our current knowledge of plant AGO functions during miRNA- and siRNA-mediated regulation of development and stress responses, siRNA-mediated antiviral immune response, and siRNA-mediated regulation of chromatin structure and transposons.