Study of cell cycle and DNA repair genes during plant development

• Grant number: 09/53195-8
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: June 01, 2010
• End date: November 30, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Plant Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Hana Paula Masuda
• Grantee: Hana Paula Masuda
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Naturais e Humanas (CCNH). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Most of commercial plants are multicellular organisms and are originated from a single cell, the zygote. Cell division and differentiation are basic cellular processes that must be coordinated during plant development. Also, plants are sessile organisms and are continuously exposed to external agents that can affect their genetic material integrity. Therefore, plant development depends on a cellular mechanism that senses the excess of lesion in the DNA molecule, induces cell cycle arrest and activates DNA repair pathways. Thus, the main goals of this project are: (1) Study the mechanisms that regulate cell cycle and transcription. ABAP1 Armadillo BTB Arabidopsis Protein 1), a novel protein characterized by our group, is one of the key components of cell cycle x DNA transcription regulation. This protein negatively regulates pre-replication complex (pre-RC) assembly by binding transcription factors/regulators that, in turn, might be controlling gene transcription of several genes involved in gametogenesis. The specific objective of this part of the project is to understand the function of ABAP1 during gametogenesis analyzing the already obtained data of transcription profile of WT plants compared to ABAP1 overexpressing plants. (2) Study the mechanisms that integrates and DNA repair systems and cell division. ATM and ATR are two important protein kinases that integrate both cellular processes. It was recently demonstrated that Nucleotide Excision Repair (NER) proteins are regulated by ATM/ATR pathways, suggesting that NER is participating in the crosstalk between cell cycle progression and DNA repair pathways. One of the genes that participates in the NER pathway is AtXPB, which is duplicated in Arabidopsis thaliana. Preliminary data indicates that only "one of the paralogs is cell cycle regulated suggesting that this gene might be involved in this process. The objective of the second part of this project is to understand the function of these paralogs. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

CABRAL, LUIZ M.; MASUDA, HANA P.; BALLESTEROS, HELKIN F.; DE ALMEIDA-ENGLER, JANICE; ALVES-FERREIRA, MARCIO; DE TONI, KAREN L. G.; BIZOTTO, FERNANDA M.; FERREIRA, PAULO C. G.; HEMERLY, ADRIANA S.. ABAP1 Plays a Role in the Differentiation of Male and Female Gametes in Arabidopsis thaliana. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE, v. 12, FEB 10 2021. (09/53195-8)