FINAL PROJECT: Abstract and Reader's Reponse > Characterizing the Effects of Ethylene on a Novel Prokaryotic Ethylene-Binding Domain Containing Diguanylate Cyclase in Methylotenera versatilis
Is the answer to your reader that Pseudomonas is a standard microbial model?
December 10, 2015 |
Marybeth Shea
Marybeth Shea
Plants perceive ethylene through endoplasmic reticulum-bound protein receptors containing ethylene binding domains (EBD) linked to downstream histidine kinase-like domains characteristic of the two component regulatory system of prokaryotes .In the past, EBDs have only been found in plants and the plant ancestor cyanobacteria, but recently, a prokaryotic protein containing an EBD has been observed in several proteobacteria, such as Methylotenera versatilis. Rather than being linked to a histidine kinase as is characteristic of plant ethylene receptors, the EBD found in these methylotrophic bacteria is fused to a GGDEF domain, the domain of diguanylate cyclases responsible for the production of the bacterial secondary messenger cyclic-di-GMP. Working under the hypothesis that the EBD of this prokaryotic protein influences the protein’s production of cyclic-di-GMP, we conducted a series of assays to test whether ethylene was promoting or obstructing NED’s diguanylate cyclase activity. So that we could more easily characterize the effects that ethylene has on this Novel Ethylene-Binding-Domain Diguanylate Cyclase (NED), we expressed the M. versatilis NED protein in the proteobacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa. While the results from past experiments are inconsistent, we plan to address the reasons for the inconsistencies so that we can better assay for ethylene response in the future. If we are in fact able to demonstrate that NED does indeed perceive ethylene, it would mark a significantly novel instance of ethylene being utilized as a signaling molecule in a non-plant system.
Word Count: 232
Reader’s Profile:
The reader here is an individual who is familiar with general topics in biology, but is ultimately unfamiliar with plant biology.
Reader’s Response:
What is the point of this research? It seems to me as if there is no significant outcome for this work as it relates to society. Also, why is using Pseudomonas better for your experiments than looking directly at Methylotenera versatilis for an ethylene response? Additionally, what does ethylene actually do in plants?