Guanqiao Feng, PhD
Computational Biologist | Machine Learning | Genomics | Gene Regulation

    Jasmonate is an essential phytohormone regulating plant growth, development and defense. The JAZ (Jasmonate ZIM-domain) repressors are key regulators that function in the first step of jasmonate signaling pathway. The members of the JAZ family (13 members) are characterized by a conserved N-terminal domain, a TIFY domain (expect JAZ13) and a C-terminal Jas domain. The introns interrupting  the Jas domain are conserved among distantly related species. Alternative splicing (AS) resulting in retention of these conserved introns lead to a truncated Jas domain, which play an important regulatory role in JAZ function. It is unknown whether or not JAZ proteins directly/indirectly regulate AS of other genes.

 

    In this project, we explored the impact of AS on three Arabidopsis genotypes (WT, jaz2, jaz7) in response to methyl jasmonate treatment with respect to:

1) differential AS;

2) differential miRNA targeted AS and

3) AS isoforms with novel functions.

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    Alternative splicing events identified from the RNA-seq data were further validated from proteomics data.

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    More results will come soon.