Harnessing the increased complexity of Asgard Archaeal Proteasomes to Bioengineer plants with increased resilience to environmental stress
Supervisors:
Nick Robinson, Biomedical and Life Sciences, Lancaster University
Bobby Graham, School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast
Doug Orr, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University
Summary:
Following the identification of the Asgard archaeal superphylum our understanding of evolutionary biology changed drastically: it is has become clear that eukaryotic cells emerged within the Asgard archaeal lineage radiation. The ubiquitin-proteasome system is a conserved and essential biological pathway of eukaryotic cells that evolved first in archaeal organisms. This system is essential for protein homeostasis and is vital for normal cellular equilibrium and the prevention of disease states including cancer and neurodegeneration. The proteasomal protein degradation apparatus is also critical in responding to both abiotic and cellular stress in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells alike and plays essential roles in plant adaptions to challenging environments.
This project will combine skills in biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology of archaeal systems in the Robinson group (Lancaster University), with plant biochemistry and bioengineering expertise in the Orr group (Lancaster University) and proteomics based mass spectrometry in the Graham Group (Queen’s University Belfast). The complexity of Asgard proteasomes will be interrogated biochemically and then the ability of these assemblies to interact with plant proteasome regulators will be investigated. Ultimately archaeal homologues will be expressed in plant systems and changes to the proteome in response to abiotic stress will be investigated.