Molecular Biology Commons^™

Regulation Of Plasmodesmata By Specialized Metabolites Glucosinolates In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Jessica C. Fernandez

Doctoral Dissertations

Communication is an essential component to all living organisms. In

plants, the additional cell wall surrounding each cell adds a layer of complexity

not observed in animals. To overcome the literal wall separating cells, plants

have evolved specialized pores to connect adjacent cells. Plasmodesmata (PD)

allow plants to have a continuous cytoplasm between cells. Although

plasmodesmata may appear simple and lack regulation, their structural

components and their regulatory machinery is complex and not well understood.

Organelle-to-nucleus-to-plasmodesmata signaling (ONPS) have been worked as

a leading model for a possible regulatory mechanism. Many of the details of

organelle-to-nucleus retrograde signaling pathways have …

The Mechanism Of Lhcp Insertion Into Thylakoid Membranes, Larae Brown

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The light harvesting chlorophyll a/b-binding proteins (LHCPs) are the most abundant membrane proteins. LHCP is a nuclear encoded protein which is targeted to the thylakoid membranes by chloroplast signal recognition particles (cpSRP). Insertion into thylakoid membranes is facilitated by the cpSRP receptor cpFtsY and the Alb3 translocase. Work here focused on understanding the molecular events of LHCP insertion into the thylakoid membranes. Specifically, we sought to develop a tool to detect the insertion of the lumen-localized loop of LHCP into thylakoid membranes, which relies on cleavage of the loop by a thylakoid lumen processing protease. We also sought to understand …