Yiji Xia
Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong
Title: Understanding redox sensing and signaling through the identification and functional characterization of redox-sensitive proteins
Biography
Biography: Yiji Xia
Abstract
A common physiological response to various environmental stresses in plants is accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS can cause oxidative damage to macro biomolecules. On the other hand, ROS have increasingly been recognized as important regulators in physiological and developmental pathways. ROS signaling is mediated largely through actions on redox-sensitive proteins that undergo oxidative modifications in response to perturbation of cellular redox states. We have developed gel-based and gel-free (OxiTRAQ) quantitative redox proteomics methods to identify Arabidopsis proteins whose thiols underwent oxidative modifications in response to treatments of ROS and the defense elicitors (salicylate and flagellin). The redox-sensitive proteins are involved in a variety of biological processes including chromatin remodeling and transcription, mRNA processing, post-translational modifications and primary and secondary metabolism. A redox-sensitive bZIP transcription factor in Arabidopsis has been found to act as a redox sensor and mediate expression of oxidative stress responsive genes through its oxidation/reduction. Our progresses in developing redox proteomics methods and in characterizing the role of the transcription factor in redox sensing and stress responses will be presented.