Functional characterization of protein kinases identified as regulators of glycogen metabolism in N. crassa

• Grant number: 16/23536-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: February 01, 2017
• End date: March 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Molecular Biology
• Principal Investigator: Maria Celia Bertolini
• Grantee: Juvana Moreira Andrade
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/24705-3 - The filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa as a model organism for the functional characterization of proteins/transcription factors that regulate the carbohydrate metabolism, AP.TEM

Abstract

Using a collection of Neurospora crassa mutant strains in genes encoding protein kinases, a number of proteins were identified as regulators of the reserve carbohydrates glycogen and trehalose. Among these proteins, is the SNF-1 protein kinase already characterized in different organisms; in Saccharomyces cerevisiae this protein was described as involved in the control of the glycogen metabolism. However, the mechanism of regulation in yeast seems to be different from the one described by our group in N. crassa. Therefore, an objective of this work is to characterize this protein kinase in this filamentous fungus using specific methodology for this purpose. An additional objective is to investigate protein kinases that influence the rhythmic accumulation of glycogen in the fungus. Previous results from our group have shown that the glycogen accumulation is connected to the circadian clock in the fungus, and an objective of this work is to identify protein kinases playing a role in the connection of glycogen metabolism and circadian clock in N. crassa. (AU)