Trehalose signalling: understanding and exploiting an emerging small molecule carbonhydrate paradigm

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This proposal is driven by (1) the pressing biological question of the site of interaction of the disaccharide trehalose 6-phosphate (T6P) following its discovery as part of an indispensable signaling mechanism with significant effects on photosynthesis, sugar metabolism, disease and stress resistance in Arabidopsis; (2) the recent availability of methods in the field of glycomics, carbohydrate and protein chemistry that enable probing for the site of interaction of T6P and related compounds and the chemical intervention of its physiological function in planta. The chemical intervention approach is focused on synthesis of non-reducing glycan libraries based on the trehalose and sucrose cores. From these, small molecule glycan arrays will be made to enable the isolation of protein and nucleic acid partners. State-of-the-art protein separation and gene cloning will be used to characterise the binding partners. Construction of in planta active non-reducing mimetics and probes will enable chemical intervention in vivo.