In the June 10, 2003, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), however, scientists from UC Riverside identify a key protein, vacuolar processing enzyme or VPEg, in Arabidopsis thaliana (thale cress) that is required for this process.
"Plants that do not have VPEg fail to accumulate the active form of an important vacuolar enzyme and fail to degrade a variety of proteins that would not normally accumulate to high levels within vacuoles, particularly those of older tissues," said Natasha Raikhel, Distinguished Professor of Plant Cell Biology at UC Riverside and the principal investigator of the research project.
The findings, which would interest researchers studying changes that occur within plants during the aging process as well as those studying the role of vacuoles in plants, indicate that VPEg is likely involved in a variety processes that range from proper development during aging to stress and defense responses.
This is an important discovery because it demonstrates a previously unknown mechanism through which plants control protein composition of the vacuole. "Plants cannot live without vacuoles," explained Raikhel. "Since the vacuole plays such a central role in a wide variety of physiological processes, the VPEg pathway for protein processing and degradation may have a large impact on many of these processes."
The research, funded by the National Science Foundation, was performed from 2001-2003 in the UC Riverside Department of Botany and Plant Sciences and the Center for Plant Cell Biology (CEPCEB). Besides Raikhel, the co-authors of the PNAS paper are Enrique Rojo, Jan Zouhar, Clay Carter and Valentina Kovaleva, all of whom are researchers in Raikhel's laboratory.
The Center for Plant Cell Biology was established in early 2002 and attempts to answer significant outstanding questions in plant biology by integrating genomic, bioinformatic, cellular, molecular, biochemical, and genetic approaches. The mission of the center is to incorporate scientists from diverse disciplines in a team approach toward determining the function of proteins within living plant cells in the context of whole plants. The center addresses a broad spectrum of research topics, including cell architecture, intracellular protein transport, cell-cell communication, signal transduction, cytoskeleton, cell cycle control, mechanisms of gene regulation, responses to environmental changes, and mechanisms of plant-pathogen interactions.
The University of California, Riverside offers undergraduate and graduate education to nearly 16,000 students and has a projected enrollment of 21,000 students by 2010. It is the fastest growing and most ethnically diverse campus of the preeminent ten-campus University of California system, the largest public research university system in the world. The picturesque 1,200-acre campus is located at the foot of the Box Springs Mountains near downtown Riverside in Southern California. More information about UC Riverside is available at www.ucr.edu or by calling 909-787-5185. For a listing of faculty experts on a variety of topics, please visit http://mmr.ucr.edu/experts/.
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences