Can Cyclin Dependent Kinase Activity be manipulated to control chromosome pairing and recombination in plants?
Lead Research Organisation:
John Innes Centre
Department Name: UNLISTED
Abstract
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Technical Summary
Bread wheat is a hexaploid of recent derivation, having arisen from a series of hybridisation events between related wild grasses. Despite possessing multiple sets of related (homoeologous) chromosomes, hexaploid wheat behaves as a diploid at meiosis. This means that correct pairing and recombination occurs between homologous chromosomes. This is controlled by the Ph1 locus in wheat, and we have recently identified a structurally related kinase, CDKG1. In wheat, Ph1 also prevents recombination between homoeologues at meiosis. Ph1 even reduces (homologous) recombination between chromosomes derived from wheat landraces where they are significantly diverged. Recombination involves the initiation of double strand breaks mostly within genic regions and then their repair via sites on either homologous or homoeologous chromosomes. We have shown that in wheat hybrids, homoeologues pair and the recombinational machinery is loaded whether Ph1 is present or absent. However, the final crossover process stalls unless CDK activity is increased or Ph1 is deleted.
Therefore, the good news is that the chromosomes are primed to crossover, that this step is controlled by protein kinases of the cyclin dependent protein kinase family and that these are excellent targets for manipulation via small molecules.
Our overall aim is to exploit these findings in order to design a strategy to chemically manipulate this step in the recombination pathway. To achieve this we will require further knowledge on the activity of these kinases, their interacting proteins and substrates, and identify compounds that can be used on intact plants to modulate CDKG/Ph1 activity during meiosis.
The project will test the hypothesis that the activity of these Ph1-related kinases determines the extent to which homologous chromosomes pair. A subsidiary hypothesis is that these kinase activities influence the balance between homologous and homeologous pairing/recombination in wheat.
Therefore, the good news is that the chromosomes are primed to crossover, that this step is controlled by protein kinases of the cyclin dependent protein kinase family and that these are excellent targets for manipulation via small molecules.
Our overall aim is to exploit these findings in order to design a strategy to chemically manipulate this step in the recombination pathway. To achieve this we will require further knowledge on the activity of these kinases, their interacting proteins and substrates, and identify compounds that can be used on intact plants to modulate CDKG/Ph1 activity during meiosis.
The project will test the hypothesis that the activity of these Ph1-related kinases determines the extent to which homologous chromosomes pair. A subsidiary hypothesis is that these kinase activities influence the balance between homologous and homeologous pairing/recombination in wheat.
Planned Impact
unavailable
