Discipline: Biological Sciences
Subcategory: STEM Research
Sanju Sanjaya - West Virginia State University
Co-Author(s): Edgar Cahoon, Bagyalakshmi Muthan, and Tawna Heath, WVSU, Institute WV
The majority of sources of food and alternative energy are obtained from plants, especially seeds. The storage compounds in seeds are predominantly carbohydrates, oils (triacylglycerols, TAGs), and proteins, which are synthesized and stored in specialized tissues during seed development. There is a great need to understand the mechanisms that regulate storage compounds in seeds to make more rapid advances in this field. Our global transcriptomic analysis of the model oilseed plant Arabidopsis thaliana has revealed a large number of previously unidentified genes that are involved in primary metabolic nutrient storage pathways. Further, genetic analysis showed that cupin proteins uniquely expressed during plant metabolic developmental stages. We have developed sucrose mutant screening technology for Arabidopsis cupins, identified potential 3-5 candidate’s genes to study further to understand mechanism of storage compound metabolism in plants. By use of Agrobacterium-mediated flower dip, we have generated transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing/RNAi cupin proteins. Overexpression of two potential candidate cupins with seed specific promoter in Arabidopsis developed larger seed phenotype and increased the total fatty acids and proteins accumulation.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): National Science Foundation HRD -1600988
Faculty Advisor: None Listed,