CIRCADIAN REGULATION OF B-BOX PROTEINS IN CONTEXT OF ABIOTIC STRESS RESPONSE IN PLANTS

There are three major goals of this project to understand the circadian regulation of B-Box proteins in the context of abiotic stress response in plants:Aim 1: Determine the functional roles of candidate BBXs in regulating heat and drought stress response in Arabidopsis.Aim 2: Determine how the clock influences BBXs' response to stress at different times of day.Aim 3: Determine the functional role of BBXs in controlling temperature entrainment of the clock.Objectives associated with these goals are:Aim 1.1: Create knockout and overexpression lines in Arabidopsis.Aim 1.2: Determine the drought and heat stress responsiveness and tolerance of candidate BBXs.Aim 1.3: Identify downstream targets of candidate BBXs.Aim 2.1: Determine whether time of day of heat stress is important for tolerance to stress.Aim 2.2: Determine whether gene expression regulated by the BBXs is time-of-day dependent.Aim 3.1: Determine the expression of clock genes in BBX knockdown and overexpression lines.Aim 3.2: Determine whether the BBXs play a role in thermocycle entrainment of the clock.Aim 3.3: Identify the direct targets of BBX6 playing a role in thermosensing and entrainment.