Understanding the role of the plastid outer envelope membrane for integrating plastids into cellular metabolic and regulatory networks

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Andreas P.M. Weber
• Subject Area: Plant Cell and Developmental Biology
• Term: from 2007 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 49640113

This collaborative research project aims at identifying the role of the chloroplast outer envelope membrane in integrating plastids with the metabolic and regulatory networks in plant cells. To this end, proteins localized in the outer plastid envelope membrane of pea will be identified by proteomics. Their localization in plant cells will be independently assessed in Arabidopsis by tagging with the green fluorescent protein and biarsenical-dye assays. Comprehensive massively-parallel transcriptome sequencing of pea will be conducted to generate a sequence database that is required for proteomics. Arabidopsis mutants deficient in genes encoding proteins of the plastid outer envelope membrane will be isolated and analyzed jointly with several thousand other mutants deficient in plastid-targeted and peroxisomal proteins, using a mutant and data analysis pipeline that was established at Michigan State University with funding from the NSF Arabidopsis 2010 program. Graduate students funded through this AFGN project will be trained in large-scale mutant and multivariate data analysis at Michigan State University. This project will provide the plant research community with information on intracellular protein localization and with a comprehensive database of the pea transcriptome. Using a consistent pipeline for the analysis of several thousand mutants will provide a unique opportunity to gain insight into the role of the plastid envelope membrane in integrating plastids with other cellular compartments and for generating testable hypotheses of protein function.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: USA
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Robert L. Last