Tonoplast Protein Trafficking in Arabidopsis

The vacuole is an essential organelle in plants and has major implications for human health. In fact, an important portion of our diet, including the essential amino acids found in beans and corn, comes from molecules stored in the vacuole. The integrity of the vacuolar membrane is important for the storage of metabolites and hormones, the sequestration of ions and the maintenance of cellular turgor. To improve plant stress tolerance and ultimately increase the nutritional value of plants for human consumption, it is essential that we understand how to regulate vacuolar membrane biogenesis.

The long-term goal of this research is to identify and characterize the trafficking machinery for vacuolar membrane proteins. An integrated strategy of genetic, biochemical and cell biological approaches will be utilized to identify and characterize mutations and chemical inhibitors that disrupt the trafficking of membrane proteins to the vacuole. The specific aims are to: 1) Identify mutants impaired in the targeting of membrane proteins. 2) Identify small inhibitors that induce mis-localization of vacuolar membrane proteins. Both mutants and inhibitors will uncouple the distinct targeting pathways of membrane proteins to the vacuole. This research will have a major impact in the understanding of vacuole biogenesis and the ability to improve plants with enhanced vacuolar content.

The broader impacts of this project include the training of minority undergraduate and graduate students in state-of-the-art techniques in molecular biology and microscopy. In addition, a teacher and minority high-school students from the Wake County public schools system will be engaged as part of this research program.