《植物生理学报》 2014, 50(9): 1274-1284

植物Whirly蛋白调控叶片衰老的研究进展

林文芳*, 任育军*, 缪颖**

福建农林大学生命科学学院分子细胞和系统生物学中心, 福州350002

通信作者： 缪颖；E-mail: ymiao2013@hotmail.com；Tel: 0591-86392987

摘　要：

植物衰老是植物细胞生长发育的最后一个阶段, 其启动的早晚对植物生物量和品质的形成有很大影响。叶片衰老是植物衰老的主要形式, 受到内外环境因素的诱导, 并被多种转录因子介导的信号传导途径所调控。对叶片衰老调控机制的研究一直是植物衰老研究中的重点。Whirly蛋白作为一类广泛存于植物中的特异转录因子小家族, 能与单链DNA分子结合, 双定位于细胞器(线粒体或叶绿体)与细胞核中, 在植物细胞核和细胞器中发挥多种功能, 参与对植物叶片衰老的调控。本文概述了植物Whirly蛋白的结构和定位, 重点阐述了Whirly蛋白的功能与细胞衰老关系及其对叶片衰老调节机理的研究进展等, 并对未来的研究方向进行了展望。

关键词：植物衰老; 叶片衰老; Whirly蛋白; 转录因子; 双定位蛋白

收稿：2014-07-04   修定：2014-08-04

资助：德国自然科学基金DFG (MI1392/1-1)项目和福建省“百人计划”科研经费。

Research Progress of Whirly Proteins in Regulation of Leaf Senescence

LIN Wen-Fang*, REN Yu-Jun*, MIAO Ying**

The Center for Molecular Cell and Systems Biology, College of Life Sciences, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China

Corresponding author: LIN Wen-Fang; E-mail: ymiao2013@hotmail.com; Tel: 0591-86392987

Abstract:

Senescence is the final step of plant growth and development. Its initiation timing has great influence on the plant biomass and quality formation. Leaf senescence is the main kind of plant senescence, which is induced by various internal and external environment factors, and regulated by many transcription factor-mediated signal transduction pathways. It is also the focus study of plant senescence. Whirly proteins are a small plant-specific transcription factor family, which prefer to bind to single-stranded DNA and are dual-located on both the organelle (chloroplast/mitochondria) and the nucleus. Whirlys have versatile functions in both nucleus and organelles, and are involved in the regulation of leaf senescence. This review summarizes the research progress of Whirlys in plants, which mainly focuses on the structure and subcellular localization characteristics of Whirlys, the relationship of Whirly functions and cell senescence, and the mechanism of Whirly protein regulate leaf senescence. The future research trends of Whirly proteins are prospected.

Key words: plant cell senescence; leaf senescence; Whirly protein; transcription factor; dual-localization protein