Pyruvate dehydrogenase and the control of respiration in plants

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Project objective

Pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) is a key control point in eukaryotic carbo metabolism and thus highly regulated. Plant cells have two forms of PDH one in the mitochondrion and one in the the chloroplast. The object of my proposed study is to determine the regulation of mitochondrial PDH in vivo. This will be performed using antisense technology in transgenic potato plants transformed with the E1a subunit, pyruvate decarboxylase. Transgenic plants with altered amount of E1a protein will be studied. Transgenic mitochondria will then be compared to wildtype mitochondria in respect of oxygen uptake, citric acid flux and the PDH activation state of the enzyme in vivo. I will use the transgenic plants to determine the flux-control coefficient of this step on the respiratory flux and thus determine the importance of PDH in regulating respiration in vivo Such studies are of fundamental importance towards an understanding of how crop yield can be improved by biotechnology.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD · OXFORDCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
• Not availableCity levelSweden

Links

• View on CORDIS