Yale Bulletin and Calendar

February 22, 2008|Volume 36, Number 19

Yale scientists are using protein microarrays from the plant Arabidopsis to help determine protein functions and interrelationships. Understanding how plant genes and genomes work is critical to meeting the needs of the increasing population in the future, says Dinesh-Kumar.

Grant to expand study of
how plant proteins function

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded $3.7 million to researchers in the Yale Center for Genomics and Proteomics (YCGP) for work that will triple the number of plant proteins whose biochemical functions can be studied in protein microarrays.

The YCGP, launched in 2002, promotes cutting-edge research in the area of genomics and proteomics. In early 2003, a large-scale project to characterize plant proteins using microarray technology was undertaken by Savithramma Dinesh-Kumar, associate professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology, and the center’s director, Michael Snyder, the Cullman Professor of Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology. This study was funded first by a YCGP pilot grant and later by $2.7 million in grants from the NSF.

“It is expected that the increase in the world’s population in the next 50 years will create a greater demand for food, fiber, fuel and pharmaceuticals,” says Dinesh-Kumar. “With continued worldwide food and fuel shortages and decreased agricultural productivity, it is imperative to increase our knowledge of plant genes and genomes to develop improved crops and better products.”

The researchers chose to focus on Arabidopsis, a member of the mustard family, which is currently the most popular model plant for genomic analysis.

“The available DNA sequence of Arabidopsis genome is a valuable tool for mining the unexplored information of the genome,” says Snyder. “These functional genomic and proteomics studies will help us to understand the interplay of genes and proteins that control plant growth, development, as well as their responses to the pathogens and different environmental stresses.”

Teaming with Mark Gerstein, professor of biomedical informatics, Snyder and Dinesh-Kumar optimized a microchip technology for studying the way proteins in this plant operate. With the initial NSF grants, they produced the first Arabidopsis protein microarrays containing 5,000 proteins. The arrays were used successfully to identify targets of several proteins that play an important role in cell signaling.

Based on the Yale scientists’ success, the NSF is extending these studies for two years to add 10,000 more proteins into Arabidopsis protein microarrays.

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