MSGID: 1:317/3 645091f2   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    New mechanisms regulating plant response to temperature    
    Discovery of a new protein complex helps scientists understand how plants   
   interpret changes in temperature over time    
      
     Date:   
         May 1, 2023   
     Source:   
         Donald Danforth Plant Science Center   
     Summary:   
         Discovery of a new protein complex helps scientists understand   
         how plants interpret changes in temperature over time   
      
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   FULL STORY   
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   Have you ever wondered why you get tired when the sun goes down? Why do   
   some flower petals open during the day and close at night? Or even how   
   monarch butterflies know when to migrate south? Life on earth has evolved   
   to predict what time it is. This mechanism is referred to as the circadian   
   clock: plants and animals alike have rhythmic, biological responses to   
   the earth's 24-hour and 365-day cycles using external cues like light   
   and temperature. Research led by Dmitri Nusinow, PhD, associate member,   
   Danforth Plant Science Center, and former Nusinow graduate student Maria   
   Sorkin, PhD, has identified a new protein complex in plants that regulates   
   temperature response by the circadian clock.   
      
   As climate change influences daily and seasonal temperature patterns --   
   such as warmer nights and winters -- it is critical to better understand   
   how plants interpret and react to thermal cues. Their findings,   
   "COLD-REGULATED GENES 27 and 28 antagonize the transcriptional activity   
   of the RVE8/LNK1/LNK2 circadian complex,"were recently published in the   
   scientific journal Plant Physiology.   
      
   "The clock is essential for plants to correctly respond to temperature   
   stimuli," wrote first author Sorkin, and scientists have uncovered a   
   variety of ways in which the circadian clock helps plants acclimate to   
   changes in temperature and survive stress -- especially in model species   
   like Arabidopsis.   
      
   "The circadian clock in Arabidopsis is well-studied," mentioned Sorkin,   
   "so the most exciting part of this project was finding a brand-new   
   protein complex that regulates temperature responses. No one else had   
   discovered this interaction, even in an established system." The complex   
   comprises three proteins that interact in the evening to adjust to cooler   
   temperatures. The research team importantly identified the mechanistic   
   connection between these proteins and the specific time of days at which   
   their interactions occur.   
      
   Sorkin went to heroic lengths to discover how these three protein   
   'puzzle pieces' come together," said Nusinow. "We are always looking   
   for protein complexes in our work, but we don't know how they will   
   interact. Maria's dedication solved that puzzle," he continued. Their   
   findings are the result of three years of hard work -- sometimes at odd   
   hours late at night and early in the morning -- to demystify how and   
   when these proteins work together.   
      
   Interestingly, the team "saw new complexes formed when we ran our   
   experiments at different times of the day," Nusinow commented, "even   
   just hours apart from each other."  The researcher's experiments involved   
   collaboration with the Danforth Center's Proteomics & Mass Spectrometry   
   Facility (PMSF) and plant growth team. The PMSF deployed state-of-the-art   
   instrumentation to identify hundreds of potential proteins for the team   
   to explore. In addition, collaborators from the University of Freiburg in   
   Germany, the Plant-Environment Signaling Group at Utrecht University, and   
   the Fundacio'n Instituto Leloir, Instituto de Investigaciones Bioqui'micas   
   de Buenos Aires-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cienti'ficas y   
   Te'cnicas in Argentina, generously shared plant material for analysis   
   of these proteins.   
      
   The Nusinow lab is excited to continue to study this protein complex at   
   different temperatures with Stefanie King, a co-author and second-year   
   graduate student at Washington University in St. Louis. "I'm grateful   
   to learn from Maria and design experiments to look at the structure and   
   regulation of the complex as a whole," King said. Now that the researchers   
   demonstrated that the protein complex interacts at specific times of day,   
   they are interested in further understanding the interaction under varying   
   temperatures. In addition, Stefanie is looking forward to mentoring an   
   NSF REU intern in these techniques over the summer.   
      
   This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, the National   
   Institute of Health, the William H. Danforth Plant Science Fellowship   
   at the Danforth Plant Science Center, the William H. Danforth Plant   
   Science Fellowship from Washington University in St. Louis, the German   
   Research Foundation, and the Agencia Nacional de Promocio'n Cienti'fica   
   y Tecnolo'gica.   
      
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Plants_&_Animals   
                   # Endangered_Plants # Nature # Botany # Biology # Genetics   
                   # Life_Sciences # Molecular_Biology # Pests_and_Parasites   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Chlorophyll o Soy_protein o Jane_Goodall o   
             Plant_defense_against_being_eaten o Mercury_poisoning o   
             Protein_folding o Telomere o Eukaryote   
      
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   Story Source: Materials provided by   
   Donald_Danforth_Plant_Science_Center. Note: Content may be edited for   
   style and length.   
      
      
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   Journal Reference:   
      1. Maria L Sorkin, Shin-Cheng Tzeng, Stefanie King, Andre's Romanowski,   
         Nikolai Kahle, Rebecca Bindbeutel, Andreas Hiltbrunner, Marcelo   
         J Yanovsky, Bradley S Evans, Dmitri A Nusinow. COLD REGULATED   
         GENE 27 and 28 antagonize the transcriptional activity of the   
         RVE8/LNK1/LNK2 circadian complex. Plant Physiology, 2023; DOI:   
         10.1093/plphys/kiad210   
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   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/05/230501143028.htm   
      
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