Project description:Abelin JG, Patel J, Lu X, Feeney CM, Fagbami L, Creech AL, Hu R, Lam D, Davison D, Pino L, Qiao JW, Kuhn E, Officer A,Li J, Abbatiello S, Subramanian A, Sidman R, Snyder E, Carr SA, Jaffe JD. Mol Cell Proteomics, 2016. Profiling posttranslational modifications represents an alternative dimension to gene expression data in characterizing cellular processes, as genetic processes alone are not sufficient to explain the entirety of biochemical mechanisms or disease etiology. For example, some cellular phenotypes resulting from chemical perturbations are partially or entirely mediated by changes in cell signaling through protein phosphorylation. To access this dimension of cellular information, we sought to develop a common platform on which cellular phosphosignaling responses could be profiled across thousands of samples. To this end, we developed a targeted MS assay that profiles a reduced-representation set of phosphopeptides that we show to be strong indicators of cellular responses to chemical perturbagens.
Project description:After perception of vegetation proximity by the phytochrome photoreceptors, shade-avoider plants initiate a set of responses known as the Shade Avoidance Syndrome (SAS). Shade perception by the phytochrome B (phyB) photoreceptor unleashes the PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTORs (PIFs) and initiates SAS responses. In Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings, shade perception involves rapid and massive changes in gene expression, increases auxin production and promotes hypocotyl elongation. Other components, such as phyA and ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL 5 (HY5), also participate in the shade regulation of the hypocotyl elongation response by repressing it. However, it remains unclear why and how so many regulators with either positive or negative activities modulate the same response. Our physiological, genetic, cellular and transcriptomic analyses showed that (1) these components are organized in two main branches or modules (phyA/HY5 and PIFs/HFR1/SAV3) and (2) the connection between them is dynamic and changes with the time of shade exposure. We propose a model for the regulation of shade-induced hypocotyl elongation in which the temporal and spatial functional importance of the various SAS regulators analyzed in here helps to explain the co-existence of differentiated regulatory branches with overlapping activities. Despite the temporal differences observed between phyA, HY5 and PIFs/HFR1/SAV3, their activities overlap and eventually converge in controlling hypocotyl elongation. Hence, we aimed to further investigate possible convergence points between these two groups of regulators.To expand our understanding of the role and interaction of HY5 and PIF4, PIF5 and PIF7 (PIF457) activities, we carried out RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) of seedlings exposed to different times of shade exposure of four genotypes: wild-type (Col-0), the single mutant hy5, the triple pif457 and the quadruple hy5 pif457.