Elucidating the interplay between two chromatin regulators HDA8 and ELP3 in dynamic control of primary and secondary metabolic networks

This project will yield knowledge on how plants coordinate metabolic networks to produce specialized metabolites that facilitate plant interactions with their environment, ranging from attracting pollinators and seed dispersers to protecting themselves from biotic and abiotic stresses. To date, it remains largely unknown how metabolic networks are regulated to balance the needs for maintaining essential functions and producing specialized metabolites.

This project will shed light on chromatin regulatory mechanisms that coordinate metabolic networks to produce volatile secondary metabolites, by testing the hypothesis that an interplay between two chromatin regulators controls the dynamic metabolic flux through primary and secondary metabolic pathways. The obtained knowledge has practical implications for both agriculture and ecology, with potential to improve plant reproductive success, plant defense and stress responses, crop nutritional value, and yield of high value phytochemicals.

This project will provide multidisciplinary training for the next generation of scientists, including minorities and high school students, in STEM research.

Preliminary studies using Petunia hybrida flowers as a model system led to the hypothesis that Histone deacetylase 8 (PhHDA8) works with the histone acetyltransferase PhELP3 to regulate primary and secondary metabolic networks responsible for the biosynthesis and emission of volatile secondary compounds. To test this hypothesis, the following research objectives will be performed: (1) determining the impact of PhHDA8 and PhELP3 on dynamics of primary and secondary metabolic networks via metabolic profiling; (2) deciphering the genome-wide targets of PhHDA8 and PhELP3 in primary and secondary metabolic networks using functional genomics approaches; and (3) elucidating the molecular mechanisms coordinating PhHDA8 and PhELP3 activities through biochemical approaches.

This work will provide important mechanistic insights into the mode of action and interaction of histone acetylation proteins. The obtained knowledge will have a far-reaching impact on understanding chromatin level regulation underlying the chemical diversity found in nature and airborne communications in the plants.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.