Discovery of new kinases associated with water stress response in maize

• Grant number: 17/19609-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: December 01, 2017
• End date: November 30, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Plant Genetics
• Agreement: CNPq - INCTs
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Arruda
• Grantee: Bruno Aquino
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 14/50897-0 - INCT 2014: Open-acess Medicinal Chemistry Centre (OpenMedChem), AP.TEM

Abstract

Plant response to water stress has become a major focus of plant biology due to the challenges of food and energy production in the face of water scarcity and temperature increases imposed by climate change. Nowadays, most of the literature information, about 90%, is focused in few metabolic pathways, such as abiscisic acid (ABA) and jasmonic acid (JA) pathways. Although protein kinases are known to play a fundamental post-translational regulatory role, no more than 50 of the more than 1000 encoded by the plant genome have some study published in the literature.This project is part of the effort of the SGC-UNICAMP Kinetic Protein Center to use the "gene to probe" platform for the discovery of new plant kinases with little or no information in the literature.For this, we use genomic and transcriptomic tools to identify new genes of kinases whose expression is altered in plants submitted to water stress. The kinase domains of these proteins are cloned, expressed, purified and characterized for kinetic properties and identification of inhibitors with the aid of the crystallographic structure. Inhibitors are then used to study the role of each of these kinases in the response to drought. Subsequently classical genetics, transgenesis and genomic editing will be used to create testable genotypes in field experiments. In this project, classical genetics and genomic editing will be used to study the role of PAN2, SIRK1, MRH1, BSK5 kinases and a potential candidate encoded by the GRMZM2G113373 gene in the maize drought response. The structural biology and biological chemistry of these proteins are already well advanced. All methodologies and reagents as well as the plants obtained will be made available to the scientific community, thus fulfilling the main objective of our INCT. (AU)