The structure and dynamics of the plant endoplasmic reticulum - WCUB, ENWW

Lead Research Organisation: Oxford Brookes University
Department Name: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences

Abstract

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) acts as a subcellular \superhighway" that connects membrane compartments [1]. The ER connects to the plasma membrane (PM) at stable ER-PM contact sites (EPCSs) [2] [3] which have been implicated in lipid transport, infection response and may act as \organizational hubs" for the cytoskeleton (reviewed in [4]). Two components of the plant EPCSs have been identified: NET3C, an actin binding protein which connects EPCSs to the actin cytoskeleton, and VAP27 a member of the vesicle-associated membrane protein (VAMP)-associated protein (VAP) family [5]. The role of these EPCS components in controlling ER structure will be assessed using dominant-negative mutants and over-expression mutants, and the effect on ER dynamics analysed using novel ER network analysis software. Using a novel molecular toolbox it is now possible to transiently modify ER structure. The ER is composed of two morphologically distinct domains { sheets and tubules, that are joined at three-way junctions (reviewed in [6]). These structures are present in different relative proportions in different cell types depending on the cells secretory requirements [7]. Transient over-expression of Arabidopsis thaliana reticulon proteins has been shown to induce tubular structures within the ER [8, 9], whilst transient over-expression of the A. thaliana Lunapark proteins induces sheet-like structures. Changes to ER dynamics caused by over-expression of these proteins will be analysed using the aforementioned software and with single-particle tracking technology. The movement of the ER is controlled by the underlying actin cytoskeleton [10]. As such the dynamics and structure of the actin cytoskeleton will be analysed in modified ER and EPCS backgrounds compared to wild-types.

Publications

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Studentship Projects

Project Reference Relationship Related To Start End Student Name
BB/M011224/1 30/09/2015 31/03/2024
1810146 Studentship BB/M011224/1 30/09/2015 29/09/2019
 
Description Software developed for the analysis of a plant membrane bound cell structure termed the "endoplasmic reticulum".
Exploitation Route Software will be made publically available.
Sectors Agriculture

Food and Drink

Manufacturing

including Industrial Biotechology

 
Title AnalyzER 
Description We developed a software package (AnalyzER) to automatically extract ER tubules and cisternae from multi-dimensional fluorescence images of plant ER. Which characterises the structure, topology, protein-localisation patterns, and dynamics are automatically quantified using spatial, intensity and graph-theoretic metrics. 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2019 
Open Source License? Yes  
Impact None so far, it was released 2 weeks ago 
URL https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-08893-9#data-availability