Research Interests

Identification and Characterization of Polyamine Transporters in Rice: A Comparative Genomic Approach

Polyamines are ubiquitous nitrogenous compounds found in all eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells. Extensive research has shown that the levels of polyamines are regulated by biosynthesis, conjugation, degradation and transport. In plants, the levels of polyamines are correlated with the plant response to stresses such as drought, salinity and temperature. In yeast, transport is an essential part of regulation of polyamine levels. In eukaryotes, four proteins that transport polyamines have been identified. Plants readily uptake polyamines and also mobilized through the vascular tissues. However, the transport of polyamines in and out of the plant cells has not been yet linked to any plant genes. With the hypothesis that plants must have specific transporters to import polyamines into the cell, a comparative genomics approach has been used to identify and characterize polyamine transporters in rice genome which translocate polyamines in and out of the cytoplasm. Known transporters from yeast, Leishmanii major and Trypanosoma cruzi will be used to identify the closest hits in the rice genome. The candidate polyamine transporter genes from rice will be expressed in the suitable yeast background and they will be localized in rice protoplasts by YFP-tagging of full-length cDNA sequences of polyamine transporters.